Conditional transaction end instruction

ABSTRACT

A Conditional Transaction End (CTEND) instruction is provided that allows a program executing in a nonconstrained transactional execution mode to inspect a storage location that is modified by either another central processing unit or the Input/Output subsystem. Based on the inspected data, transactional execution may be ended or aborted, or the decision to end/abort may be delayed, e.g., until a predefined event occurs. For instance, when the instruction executes, the processor is in a nonconstrained transaction execution mode, and the transaction nesting depth is one at the beginning of the instruction, a second operand of the instruction is inspected, and based on the inspected data, transaction execution may be ended or aborted, or the decision to end/abort may be delayed, e.g., until a predefined event occurs, such as the value of the second operand becomes a prespecified value or a time interval is exceeded.

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser.No. 16/018,343 filed Jun. 26, 2018 entitled “CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION ENDINSTRUCTION,” which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 10,025,589 issuedJul. 17, 2018, entitled “CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END INSTRUCTION,” whichis a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 9,454,370 issued Sep. 27, 2016,entitled “CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END INSTRUCTION,” each of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

One or more aspects relate, in general, to multiprocessing computingenvironments, and in particular, to transactional processing within suchcomputing environments.

In a computing environment that implements a transactional executionfacility (also known as “transactional memory”), a transaction providesthe means by which a program can issue a plurality of instructions andthe storage accesses of those instructions either (a) appear to occur asa single concurrent operation, or (b) do not appear to occur, asobserved by other central processing units (CPUs) and the input/output(I/O) subsystem. A transactional access made by one CPU is said toconflict with either (a) a transactional or nontransactional access madeby another CPU, or (b) a nontransactional access made by the I/Osubsystem, if both accesses are to any location within the same cacheline, and one or both of the accesses is a store.

The current nature of conflict detection has made it exceedinglydifficult, if not impossible, for a program executing on one CPU toinfluence the execution of a program executing on a different CPU whenone or both CPUs is in the transactional-execution mode. Any store to amemory location that is accessed by both CPUs is likely to be treated asa conflict situation, resulting in the aborting of transactionalexecution.

SUMMARY

Shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and advantages are providedthrough the provision of a computer program product for executing aninstruction in a computing environment. The computer program productincludes a computer readable storage medium readable by a processingcircuit and storing instructions for performing a method. The methodincludes obtaining the instruction for execution, the instruction havingassociated therewith an operation code to specify a conditionaltransaction end operation; and executing, by a processor, theinstruction. The executing includes fetching an operand from a locationspecified by the instruction. Based on the operand comprising one value,ending a transaction associated with the instruction, and based on theoperand comprising another value, delaying completion of the instructionuntil a predefined action occurs.

Computer-implemented methods and systems relating to one or moreembodiments are also described and claimed herein. Further, servicesrelating to one or more embodiments are also described and may beclaimed herein.

Additional features and advantages are realized. Other embodiments andaspects are described in detail herein and are considered a part of theclaimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more aspects are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimedas examples in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. Theforegoing and other objects, features, and advantages are apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts one embodiment of a computing environment;

FIG. 2A depicts one example of a Transaction Begin (TBEGIN) instruction;

FIG. 2B depicts one embodiment of further details of a field of theTBEGIN instruction of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3A depicts on example of a Transaction Begin Constrained (TBEGINC)instruction;

FIG. 3B depicts one embodiment of further details of a field of theTBEGINC instruction of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 depicts one example of a Transaction End (TEND) instruction;

FIG. 5 depicts one example of a Transaction Abort (TABORT) instruction;

FIG. 6 depicts one example of nested transactions;

FIG. 7 depicts one example of a transaction diagnostic block;

FIG. 8 depicts one example of a Conditional Transaction End (CTEND)instruction;

FIG. 9 depicts one embodiment of logic associated with the ConditionalTransaction End instruction of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 depicts one embodiment of further details associated with thelogic of the Conditional Transaction End instruction;

FIGS. 11A-11C depict another embodiment of processing associated withaspects of the Conditional Transaction End instruction;

FIG. 12 depicts one embodiment of a computer program product;

FIG. 13 depicts one embodiment of a host computer system;

FIG. 14 depicts a further example of a computer system;

FIG. 15 depicts another example of a computer system comprising acomputer network;

FIG. 16 depicts one embodiment of various elements of a computer system;

FIG. 17A depicts one embodiment of the execution unit of the computersystem of FIG. 16;

FIG. 17B depicts one embodiment of the branch unit of the computersystem of FIG. 16;

FIG. 17C depicts one embodiment of the load/store unit of the computersystem of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 depicts one embodiment of an emulated host computer system;

FIG. 19 depicts one embodiment of a cloud computing node;

FIG. 20 depicts one embodiment of a cloud computing environment; and

FIG. 21 depicts one example of abstraction model layers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with one aspect, a capability is provided to allow aprogram executing on one processor (e.g., central processing unit (CPU))to influence the transactional execution of another processor (e.g.,another CPU). In one embodiment, an instruction, referred to as aConditional Transaction End (CTEND) instruction, is provided that allowsa program executing in a nonconstrained transactional execution mode toinspect a storage location that is modified by either another CPU or theI/O subsystem. Based on the inspected data, transactional execution maybe ended or aborted, or the decision to end/abort may be delayed e.g.,until a predefined event occurs.

For instance, when the CTEND instruction executes and the processor isin a nonconstrained transactional execution mode and the transactionnesting depth is one at the beginning of the instruction, a secondoperand of the instruction is inspected and based on the inspected data,transactional execution may be ended or aborted, or the decision toend/abort may be delayed, e.g., until a predefined event occurs, such asthe value of the second operand becomes a prespecified value or apredefined relationship with a selected time interval is met (e.g., thetime interval is exceeded). As a further example, the predefined eventmay include an interrupt becoming pending. Other events are alsopossible.

Prior to describing this instruction in detail, however, detailsregarding the transactional execution facility, including nonconstrainedand constrained transactional execution modes, are discussed.

The transactional execution facility introduces a CPU state called thetransactional execution (TX) mode. Following a CPU reset, the CPU is notin the TX mode. The CPU enters the TX mode by a TRANSACTION BEGINinstruction, and leaves the TX mode by either (a) an outermostTRANSACTION END instruction (more details on inner and outer to follow),(b) a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction that sets the conditioncode to 0; or (c) the transaction being aborted. While in the TX mode,storage accesses by the CPU appear to be block-concurrent as observed byother CPUs and the I/O subsystem. The storage accesses are either (a)committed to storage when the outermost transaction ends withoutaborting (i.e., e.g., updates made in a cache or buffer local to the CPUare propagated and stored in real memory and visible to other CPUs), or(b) discarded if the transaction is aborted.

Transactions may be nested. That is, while the CPU is in the TX mode, itmay execute another TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction. The instruction thatcauses the CPU to enter the TX mode is called the outermost TRANSACTIONBEGIN; similarly, the program is said to be in the outermosttransaction. Subsequent executions of TRANSACTION BEGIN are called innerinstructions; and the program is executing an inner transaction. Themodel provides a minimum nesting depth and a model-dependent maximumnesting depth. An EXTRACT TRANSACTION NESTING DEPTH instruction returnsthe current nesting depth value, and in a further embodiment, may returna maximum nesting-depth value. This technique uses a model called“flattened nesting” in which an aborting condition at any nesting depthcauses all levels of the transaction to be aborted, and control isreturned to the instruction following the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN.

During processing of a transaction, a transactional access made by oneCPU is said to conflict with either (a) a transactional access ornontransactional access made by another CPU, or (b) a nontransactionalaccess made by the I/O subsystem, if both accesses are to any locationwithin the same cache line, and one or both of the accesses is a store.In other words, in order for transactional execution to be productive,the CPU is not to be observed making transactional accesses until itcommits. This programming model may be highly effective in certainenvironments; for example, the updating of two points in a doubly-linkedlist of a million elements. However, it may be less effective, if thereis a lot of contention for the storage locations that are beingtransactionally accessed.

In one model of transactional execution (referred to herein as anonconstrained transaction), when a transaction is aborted, the programmay either attempt to re-drive the transaction in the hopes that theaborting condition is no longer present, or the program may “fall back”to an equivalent non-transactional path. In another model oftransactional execution (referred to herein as a constrainedtransaction), an aborted transaction is automatically re-driven by theCPU; in the absence of constraint violations, the constrainedtransaction is assured of eventual completion.

When initiating a transaction, the program can specify various controls,such as (a) which general registers are restored to their originalcontents if the transaction is aborted, (b) whether the transaction isallowed to modify the floating-point-register context, including, forinstance, floating point registers and the floating point controlregister, (c) whether the transaction is allowed to modify accessregisters (ARs), and (d) whether certain program-exception conditionsare to be blocked from causing an interruption. If a nonconstrainedtransaction is aborted, various diagnostic information may be provided.For instance, the outermost TBEGIN instruction that initiates anonconstrained transaction may designate a program specified transactiondiagnostic block (TDB). Further, the TDB in the CPU's prefix area ordesignated by the host's state description may also be used if thetransaction is aborted due to a program interruption or a condition thatcauses interpretative execution to end, respectively.

Indicated above are various types of registers. These are furtherexplained in detail herein. General registers may be used asaccumulators in general arithmetic and logical operations. In oneembodiment, each register contains 64 bit positions, and there are 16general registers. The general registers are identified by the numbers0-15, and are designated by a four-bit R field in an instruction. Someinstructions provide for addressing multiple general registers by havingseveral R fields. For some instructions, the use of a specific generalregister is implied rather than explicitly designated by an R field ofthe instruction.

In addition to their use as accumulators in general arithmetic andlogical operations, 15 of the 16 general registers are also used as baseaddress and index registers in address generation. In these cases, theregisters are designated by a four-bit B field or X field in aninstruction. A value of zero in the B or X field specifies that no baseor index is to be applied, and thus, general register 0 is not to bedesignated as containing a base address or index.

Floating point instructions use a set of floating point registers. TheCPU has 16 floating point registers, in one embodiment. The floatingpoint registers are identified by the numbers 0-15, and are designatedby a four bit R field in floating point instructions. Each floatingpoint register is 64 bits long and can contain either a short (32-bit)or a long (64-bit) floating point operand.

A floating point control (FPC) register is a 32-bit register thatcontains mask bits, flag bits, a data exception code, and rounding modebits, and is used during processing of floating point operations.

Further, in one embodiment, the CPU has 16 control registers, eachhaving 64 bit positions. The bit positions in the registers are assignedto particular facilities in the system, such as Program Event Recording(PER) (discussed below), and are used either to specify that anoperation can take place or to furnish special information required bythe facility. In one embodiment, for the transactional facility, CR0(bits 8 and 9) and CR2 (bits 61-63) are used, as described below.

The CPU has, for instance, 16 access registers numbered 0-15. An accessregister consists of 32 bit positions containing an indirectspecification of an address space control element (ASCE). An addressspace control element is a parameter used by the dynamic addresstranslation (DAT) mechanism to translate references to a correspondingaddress space. When the CPU is in a mode called the access register mode(controlled by bits in the program status word (PSW)), an instruction Bfield, used to specify a logical address for a storage operandreference, designates an access register, and the address space controlelement specified by the access register is used by DAT for thereference being made. For some instructions, an R field is used insteadof a B field. Instructions are provided for loading and storing thecontents of the access registers and for moving the contents of oneaccess register to another.

Each of access registers 1-15 can designate any address space. Accessregister 0 designates the primary address space. When one of accessregisters 1-15 is used to designate an address space, the CPU determineswhich address space is designated by translating the contents of theaccess register. When access register 0 is used to designate an addressspace, the CPU treats the access register as designating the primaryaddress space, and it does not examine the actual contents of the accessregister. Therefore, the 16 access registers can designate, at any onetime, the primary address space and a maximum of 15 other spaces.

In one embodiment, there are multiple types of address spaces. Anaddress space is a consecutive sequence of integer numbers (virtualaddresses), together with the specific transformation parameters whichallow each number to be associated with a byte location in storage. Thesequence starts at zero and proceeds left to right.

In, for instance, the z/Architecture, when a virtual address is used bya CPU to access main storage (a.k.a., main memory), it is firstconverted, by means of dynamic address translation (DAT), to a realaddress, and then, by means of prefixing, to an absolute address. DATmay use from one to five levels of tables (page, segment, region third,region second, and region first) as transformation parameters. Thedesignation (origin and length) of the highest-level table for aspecific address space is called an address space control element, andit is found for use by DAT in a control register or as specified by anaccess register. Alternatively, the address space control element for anaddress space may be a real space designation, which indicates that DATis to translate the virtual address simply by treating it as a realaddress and without using any tables.

DAT uses, at different times, the address space control elements indifferent control registers or specified by the access registers. Thechoice is determined by the translation mode specified in the currentPSW. Four translation modes are available: primary space mode, secondaryspace mode, access register mode and home space mode. Different addressspaces are addressable depending on the translation mode.

At any instant when the CPU is in the primary space mode or secondaryspace mode, the CPU can translate virtual addresses belonging to twoaddress spaces—the primary address space and the second address space.At any instant when the CPU is in the access register mode, it cantranslate virtual addresses of up to 16 address spaces—the primaryaddress space and up to 15 AR-specified address spaces. At any instantwhen the CPU is in the home space mode, it can translate virtualaddresses of the home address space.

The primary address space is identified as such because it consists ofprimary virtual addresses, which are translated by means of the primaryaddress space control element (ASCE). Similarly, the secondary addressspace consists of secondary virtual addresses translated by means of thesecondary ASCE; the AR specified address spaces consist of AR specifiedvirtual addresses translated by means of AR specified ASCEs; and thehome address space consists of home virtual addresses translated bymeans of the home ASCE. The primary and secondary ASCEs are in controlregisters 1 and 7, respectively. AR specified ASCEs are inASN-second-table entries that are located through a process calledaccess-register translation (ART) using control registers 2, 5 and 8.The home ASCE is in control register 13.

One embodiment of a computing environment to incorporate and use one ormore aspects of the transactional facility, as well as a conditionaltransaction end facility, which includes the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION ENDinstruction, is described with reference to FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one example, a computing environment 100 isbased on the z/Architecture, offered by International Business Machines(IBM®) Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. The z/Architecture is described in anIBM Publication entitled “z/Architecture—Principles of Operation,”Publication No. SA22-7932-09, 10^(th) Edition, September 2012, which ishereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Z/ARCHITECTURE, IBM, and Z/OS and Z/VM (referenced below) are registeredtrademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.Other names used herein may be registered trademarks, trademarks orproduct names of International Business Machines Corporation or othercompanies.

As one example, computing environment 100 includes a central processorcomplex (CPC) 102 coupled to one or more input/output (I/O) devices 106via one or more control units 108. Central processor complex 102includes, for instance, a processor memory 104 (a.k.a., main memory,main storage, central storage) coupled to one or more central processors(a.k.a., central processing units (CPUs)) 110, and an input/outputsubsystem 111, each of which is described below.

Processor memory 104 includes, for example, one or more partitions 112(e.g., logical partitions), and processor firmware 113, which includes alogical partition hypervisor 114 and other processor firmware 115. Oneexample of logical partition hypervisor 114 is the ProcessorResource/System Manager (PRISM), offered by International BusinessMachines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.

A logical partition functions as a separate system and has one or moreapplications 120, and optionally, a resident operating system 122therein, which may differ for each logical partition. In one embodiment,the operating system is the z/OS operating system, the z/VM operatingsystem, the z/Linux operating system, or the TPF operating system,offered by International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.Logical partitions 112 are managed by logical partition hypervisor 114,which is implemented by firmware running on processors 110. As usedherein, firmware includes, e.g., the microcode and/or millicode of theprocessor. It includes, for instance, the hardware-level instructionsand/or data structures used in implementation of higher level machinecode. In one embodiment, it includes, for instance, proprietary codethat is typically delivered as microcode that includes trusted softwareor microcode specific to the underlying hardware and controls operatingsystem access to the system hardware.

Central processors 110 are physical processor resources allocated to thelogical partitions. In particular, each logical partition 112 has one ormore logical processors, each of which represents all or a share of aphysical processor 110 allocated to the partition. The logicalprocessors of a particular partition 112 may be either dedicated to thepartition, so that the underlying processor resource 110 is reserved forthat partition; or shared with another partition, so that the underlyingprocessor resource is potentially available to another partition. In oneexample, one or more of the CPUs include aspects of the transactionalexecution facility 130 and conditional transaction end facility 132described herein.

Input/output subsystem 111 directs the flow of information betweeninput/output devices 106 and main storage 104. It is coupled to thecentral processing complex, in that it can be a part of the centralprocessing complex or separate therefrom. The I/O subsystem relieves thecentral processors of the task of communicating directly with theinput/output devices and permits data processing to proceed concurrentlywith input/output processing. To provide communications, the I/Osubsystem employs I/O communications adapters. There are various typesof communications adapters including, for instance, channels, I/Oadapters, PCI cards, Ethernet cards, Small Computer Storage Interface(SCSI) cards, etc. In the particular example described herein, the I/Ocommunications adapters are channels, and therefore, the I/O subsystemis referred to herein as a channel subsystem. However, this is only oneexample. Other types of I/O subsystems can be used.

The I/O subsystem uses one or more input/output paths as communicationlinks in managing the flow of information to or from input/outputdevices 106. In this particular example, these paths are called channelpaths, since the communication adapters are channels.

The computing environment described above is only one example of acomputing environment that can be used. Other environments, includingbut not limited to, non-partitioned environments, other partitionedenvironments, and/or emulated environments, may be used; embodiments arenot limited to any one environment.

In accordance with one or more aspects, the transactional executionfacility is an enhancement of the central processing unit that providesthe means by which the CPU can execute a sequence of instructions—knownas a transaction—that may access multiple storage locations, includingthe updating of those locations. As observed by other CPUs and the I/Osubsystem, the transaction is either (a) completed in its entirety as asingle atomic operation, or (b) aborted, potentially leaving no evidencethat it ever executed (except for certain conditions described herein).Thus, a successfully completed transaction can update numerous storagelocations without any special locking that is needed in the classicmultiprocessing model.

The transactional execution facility includes, for instance, one or morecontrols; one or more instructions; transactional processing, includingconstrained and nonconstrained execution; and abort processing, each ofwhich is further described below.

In one embodiment, three special purpose controls, including atransaction abort Program Status Word (PSW), a transaction diagnosticblock (TDB) address, and a transaction nesting depth; five controlregister bits; and a plurality of general instructions, includingTRANSACTION BEGIN (constrained and nonconstrained), TRANSACTION END,EXTRACT TRANSACTION NESTING DEPTH, TRANSACTION ABORT, andNONTRANSACTIONAL STORE are used to control the transactional executionfacility. When the facility is installed, it is installed, for instance,in all CPUs in the configuration. A facility indication, bit 73 in oneimplementation, when one, indicates that the transactional executionfacility is installed.

Further, in one aspect, when the transactional execution facility isinstalled, another facility, referred to as the conditional transactionend facility, may also be installed. The conditional transaction endfacility is installed when, for instance, bit 55 of the facilityindication bits is set to one. In one implementation, this bit ismeaningful only when bit 73 representing the transactional executionfacility is also one. When both the facilities are installed, then theCONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction is also an enhancement of theCPU and is used to control transactional execution.

When the transactional execution facility is installed, theconfiguration provides a nonconstrained transactional executionfacility, and optionally, a constrained transactional executionfacility, each of which is described below. When facility indications 50and 73, as examples, are both one, the constrained transactionalexecution facility is installed. Both facility indications are stored inmemory at specified locations.

As used herein, the instruction name TRANSACTION BEGIN refers to theinstructions having the mnemonics TBEGIN (Transaction Begin for anonconstrained transaction) and TBEGINC (Transaction Begin for aconstrained transaction). Discussions pertaining to a specificinstruction are indicated by the instruction name followed by themnemonic in parentheses or brackets, or simply by the mnemonic.

One embodiment of a format of a TRANSACTION BEGIN (TBEGIN) instructionis depicted in FIGS. 2A-2B. As one example, a TBEGIN instruction 200(FIG. 2A) includes an opcode field 202 that includes an opcodespecifying a transaction begin nonconstrained operation; a base field(B₁) 204; a displacement field (D₁) 206; and an immediate field (I₂)208. When the B₁ field is nonzero, the contents of the general registerspecified by B₁ 204 are added to D₁ 206 to obtain the first operandaddress.

When the B₁ field is nonzero, the following applies:

-   -   When the transaction nesting depth is initially zero, the first        operand address designates the location of the 256 byte        transaction diagnostic block, called the TBEGIN-specified TDB        (described further below) into which various diagnostic        information may be stored if the transaction is aborted. When        the CPU is in the primary space mode or access register mode,        the first operand address designates a location in the primary        address space. When the CPU is in the secondary space or home        space mode, the first operand address designates a location in        the secondary or home address space, respectively. When DAT is        off, the transaction diagnostic block (TDB) address (TDBA)        designates a location in real storage.    -   Store accessibility to the first operand is determined. If        accessible, the logical address of the operand is placed into        the transaction diagnostic block address (TDBA), and the TDBA is        valid.    -   When the CPU is already in the nonconstrained transactional        execution mode, the TDBA is not modified, and it is        unpredictable whether the first operand is tested for        accessibility.

When the B₁ field is zero, no access exceptions are detected for thefirst operand and, for the outermost TBEGIN instruction, the TDBA isinvalid.

The bits of the I₂ field are defined as follows, in one example:

General Register Save Mask (GRSM) 210 (FIG. 2B):

Bits 0-7 of the I₂ field contain the general register save mask (GRSM).Each bit of the GRSM represents an even-odd pair of general registers,where bit 0 represents registers 0 and 1, bit 1 represents registers 2and 3, and so forth. When a bit in the GRSM of the outermost TBEGINinstruction is zero, the corresponding register pair is not saved. Whena bit in the GRSM of the outermost TBEGIN instruction is one, thecorresponding register pair is saved in a model dependent location thatis not directly accessible by the program.

If the transaction aborts, saved register pairs are restored to theircontents when the outermost TBEGIN instruction was executed. Thecontents of all other (unsaved) general registers are not restored whena transaction aborts.

The general register save mask is ignored on all TBEGINs except for theoutermost one.

Allow AR Modification (A) 212:

The A control, bit 12 of the I₂ field, controls whether the transactionis allowed to modify an access register. The effective allow ARmodification control is the logical AND of the A control in the TBEGINinstruction for the current nesting level and for all outer levels.

If the effective A control is zero, the transaction will be aborted withabort code 11 (restricted instruction) if an attempt is made to modifyany access register. If the effective A control is one, the transactionwill not be aborted if an access register is modified (absent of anyother abort condition).

Allow Floating Point Operation (F) 214:

The F control, bit 13 of the I₂ field, controls whether the transactionis allowed to execute specified floating point instructions. Theeffective allow floating point operation control is the logical AND ofthe F control in the TBEGIN instruction for the current nesting leveland for all outer levels.

If the effective F control is zero, then (a) the transaction will beaborted with abort code 11 (restricted instruction) if an attempt ismade to execute a floating point instruction, and (b) the data exceptioncode (DXC) in byte 2 of the floating point control register (FPCR) willnot be set by any data exception program exception condition. If theeffective F control is one, then (a) the transaction will not be abortedif an attempt is made to execute a floating point instruction (absentany other abort condition), and (b) the DXC in the FPCR may be set by adata exception program exception condition.

Program Interruption Filtering Control (PIFC) 216:

Bits 14-15 of the I₂ field are the program interruption filteringcontrol (PIFC). The PIFC controls whether certain classes of programexception conditions (e.g., addressing exception, data exception,operation exception, protection exception, etc.) that occur while theCPU is in the transactional execution mode result in an interruption.

The effective PIFC is the highest value of the PIFC in the TBEGINinstruction for the current nesting level and for all outer levels. Whenthe effective PIFC is zero, all program exception conditions result inan interruption. When the effective PIFC is one, program exceptionconditions having a transactional execution class of 1 and 2 result inan interruption. (Each program exception condition is assigned at leastone transactional execution class, depending on the severity of theexception. Severity is based on the likelihood of recovery during arepeated execution of the transactional execution, and whether theoperating system needs to see the interruption.) When the effective PIFCis two, program exception conditions having a transactional executionclass of 1 result in an interruption. A PIFC of 3 is reserved.

Bits 8-11 of the I₂ field (bits 40-43 of the instruction) are reservedand should contain zeros; otherwise, the program may not operatecompatibly in the future.

One embodiment of a format of a Transaction Begin constrained (TBEGINC)instruction is described with reference to FIGS. 3A-3B. In one example,TBEGINC 300 (FIG. 3A) includes an opcode field 302 that includes anopcode specifying a transaction begin constrained operation; a basefield (B₁) 304; a displacement field (D₁) 306; and an immediate field(I₂) 308. The contents of the general register specified by B₁ 304 areadded to D₁ 306 to obtain the first operand address. However, with thetransaction begin constrained instruction, the first operand address isnot used to access storage. Instead, the B₁ field of the instructionincludes zeros; otherwise, a specification exception is recognized.

In one embodiment, the I₂ field includes various controls, an example ofwhich is depicted in FIG. 3B.

The bits of the I₂ field are defined as follows, in one example:

General Register Save Mask (GRSM) 310:

-   -   Bits 0-7 of the I₂ field contain the general register save mask        (GRSM). Each bit of the GRSM represents an even-odd pair of        general registers, where bit 0 represents registers 0 and 1, bit        1 represents registers 2 and 3, and so forth. When a bit in the        GRSM is zero, the corresponding register pair is not saved. When        a bit in the GRSM is one, the corresponding register pair is        saved in a model-dependent location that is not directly        accessible by the program.    -   If the transaction aborts, saved register pairs are restored to        their contents when the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction        was executed. The contents of all other (unsaved) general        registers are not restored when a constrained transaction        aborts.    -   When TBEGINC is used to continue execution in the nonconstrained        transaction execution mode, the general register save mask is        ignored.

Allow AR Modification (A) 312:

-   -   The A control, bit 12 of the I₂ field, controls whether the        transaction is allowed to modify an access register. The        effective allow-AR-modification control is the logical AND of        the A control in the TBEGINC instruction for the current nesting        level and for any outer TBEGIN or TBEGINC instructions.    -   If the effective A control is zero, the transaction will be        aborted with abort code 11 (restricted instruction) if an        attempt is made to modify any access register. If the effective        A control is one, the transaction will not be aborted if an        access register is modified (absent of any other abort        condition).    -   Bits 8-11 and 13-15 of the I₂ field (bits 40-43 and 45-47 of the        instruction) are reserved and should contain zeros.

The end of a Transaction Begin instruction is specified, in one example,by a TRANSACTION END (TEND) instruction, a format of which is depictedin FIG. 4. As one example, a TEND instruction 400 includes an opcodefield 402 that includes an opcode specifying a transaction endoperation.

In a further embodiment, the end of a transaction may be specified by aCONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END (CTEND) instruction, which is furtherdescribed below.

A number of terms are used with respect to the transactional executionfacility, and therefore, solely for convenience, a list of terms isprovided below in alphabetical order. In one embodiment, these termshave the following definition:

Abort: A transaction aborts when it is ended prior to a TRANSACTION ENDinstruction that results in a transaction nesting depth of zero, or whena CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction sets a condition code of zero.When a transaction aborts, the following occurs, in one embodiment:

-   -   Transactional store accesses made by any and all levels of the        transaction are discarded (that is, not committed).    -   Non-transactional store accesses made by any and all levels of        the transaction are committed.    -   Registers designated by the general register save mask (GRSM) of        the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction are restored to        their contents prior to the transactional execution (that is, to        their contents at execution of the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN        instruction). General registers not designated by the general        register save mask of the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN        instruction are not restored.    -   Access registers, floating-point registers, and the        floating-point control register are not restored. Any changes        made to these registers during transaction execution are        retained when the transaction aborts.

A transaction may be aborted due to a variety of reasons, includingattempted execution of a restricted instruction, attempted modificationof a restricted resource, transactional conflict, exceeding various CPUresources, any interpretive-execution interception condition, anyinterruption, a TRANSACTION ABORT instruction, and other reasons. Atransaction-abort code provides specific reasons why a transaction maybe aborted.

One example of a format of a TRANSACTION ABORT (TABORT) instruction isdescribed with reference to FIG. 5. As one example, a TABORT instruction500 includes an opcode field 502 that includes an opcode specifying atransaction abort operation; a base field (B₂) 504; and a displacementfield (D₂) 506. When the B₂ field is nonzero, the contents of thegeneral register specified by B₂ 504 are added to D₂ 506 to obtain asecond operand address; otherwise, the second operand address is formedsolely from the D₂ field, and the B₂ field is ignored. The secondoperand address is not used to address data; instead, the address formsthe transaction abort code which is placed in a transaction diagnosticblock during abort processing. Address computation for the secondoperand address follows the rules of address arithmetic: in the 24-bitaddressing mode, bits 0-29 are set to zeros; in the 31-bit addressingmode, bits 0-32 are set to zeros.

Commit:

At the completion of an outermost TRANSACTION END instruction, or at thecompletion of a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction that setscondition code 0, the CPU commits the store accesses made by thetransaction (i.e., the outermost transaction and any nested levels) suchthat they are visible to other CPUs and the I/O subsystem. As observedby other CPUs and by the I/O subsystem, all fetch and store accessesmade by all nested levels of the transaction appear to occur as a singleconcurrent operation when the commit occurs.

The contents of the general registers, access registers, floating-pointregisters, and the floating-point control register are not modified bythe commit process. Any changes made to these registers duringtransactional execution are retained when the transaction's stores arecommitted.

Conflict:

A transactional access made by one CPU conflicts with either (a) atransactional access or non-transactional access made by another CPU, or(b) the non-transactional access made by the I/O subsystem, if bothaccesses are to any location within the same cache line, and one or moreof the accesses is a store.

A conflict may be detected by a CPU's speculative execution ofinstructions, even though the conflict may not be detected in theconceptual sequence.

Constrained Transaction:

A constrained transaction is a transaction that executes in theconstrained transactional execution mode and is subject to the followinglimitations:

-   -   A subset of the general instructions is available.    -   A limited number of instructions may be executed.    -   A limited number of storage-operand locations may be accessed.    -   The transaction is limited to a single nesting level.

In the absence of repeated interruptions or conflicts with other CPUs orthe I/O subsystem, a constrained transaction eventually completes, thusan abort-handler routine is not required.

When a TRANSACTION BEGIN constrained (TBEGINC) instruction is executedwhile the CPU is already in the nonconstrained transaction executionmode, execution continues as a nested nonconstrained transaction.

Constrained Transactional Execution Mode:

When the transaction nesting depth is zero, and a transaction isinitiated by a TBEGINC instruction, the CPU enters the constrainedtransactional execution mode. While the CPU is in the constrainedtransactional execution mode, the transaction nesting depth is one.

Nested Transaction:

When the TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction is issued while the CPU is in thenonconstrained transactional execution mode, the transaction is nested.

The transactional execution facility uses a model called flattenednesting. In the flattened nesting mode, stores made by an innertransaction are not observable by other CPUs and by the I/O subsystemuntil the outermost transaction commits its stores. Similarly, if atransaction aborts, all nested transactions abort, and all transactionalstores of all nested transactions are discarded.

One example of nested transactions is depicted in FIG. 6. As shown, afirst TBEGIN 600 starts an outermost transaction 601, TBEGIN 602 startsa first nested transaction, and TBEGIN 604 starts a second nestedtransaction. In this example, TBEGIN 604 and TEND 606 define aninnermost transaction 608. When TEND 610 executes, transactional storesare committed 612 for the outermost transaction and all innertransactions.

Nonconstrained Transaction:

A nonconstrained transaction is a transaction that executes in thenonconstrained transactional execution mode. Although a nonconstrainedtransaction is not limited in the manner as a constrained transaction,it may still be aborted due to a variety of causes.

Nonconstrained Transactional Execution Mode:

When a transaction is initiated by the TBEGIN instruction, the CPUenters the nonconstrained transactional execution mode. While the CPU isin the nonconstrained transactional execution mode, the transactionnesting depth may vary from one to the maximum transaction nestingdepth.

Non-Transactional Access:

Non-transactional accesses are storage operand accesses made by the CPUwhen it is not in the transactional execution mode (that is, classicstorage accesses outside of a transaction). Further, accesses made bythe I/O subsystem are non-transactional accesses. Additionally, theNONTRANSACTIONAL STORE instruction may be used to cause anon-transactional store access while the CPU is in the nonconstrainedtransactional execution mode.

Outer/Outermost Transaction:

A transaction with a lower-numbered transaction nesting depth is anouter transaction. A transaction with a transaction nesting depth valueof one is the outermost transaction.

An outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction is one that is executed whenthe transaction nesting depth is initially zero. An outermostTRANSACTION END instruction is one that causes the transaction nestingdepth to transition from one to zero. Further, a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTIONEND instruction that sets the condition code to zero may also beconsidered to be the outermost form of the instruction. A constrainedtransaction is the outermost transaction, in this embodiment.

Program Interruption Filtering:

When a transaction is aborted due to certain program exceptionconditions, the program can optionally prevent the interruption fromoccurring. This technique is called program-interruption filtering.Program interruption filtering is subject to the transactional class ofthe interruption, the effective program interruption filtering controlfrom the TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction, and the transactional executionprogram interruption filtering override in control register 0.

Transaction:

A transaction includes the storage-operand accesses made, and selectedgeneral registers altered, while the CPU is in the transaction executionmode. For a nonconstrained transaction, storage-operand accesses mayinclude both transactional accesses and non-transactional accesses. Fora constrained transaction, storage-operand accesses are limited totransactional accesses. As observed by other CPUs and by the I/Osubsystem, all storage-operand accesses made by the CPU while in thetransaction execution mode appear to occur as a single concurrentoperation. If a transaction is aborted, transactional store accesses arediscarded, and any registers designated by the general register savemask of the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction are restored totheir contents prior to transactional execution.

Transactional Accesses:

Transactional accesses are storage operand accesses made while the CPUis in the transactional execution mode, with the exception of accessesmade by the NONTRANSACTIONAL STORE instruction.

Transactional Execution Mode:

The term transactional execution mode (a.k.a., transaction executionmode) describes the common operation of both the nonconstrained and theconstrained transactional execution modes. Thus, when the operation isdescribed, the terms nonconstrained and constrained are used to qualifythe transactional execution mode.

When the transaction nesting depth is zero, the CPU is not in thetransactional execution mode (also called the non-transactionalexecution mode).

As observed by the CPU, fetches and stores made in the transactionalexecution mode are no different than those made while not in thetransactional execution mode.

In one embodiment of the z/Architecture, the transactional executionfacility is under the control of bits 8-9 of control register 0, bits61-63 of control register 2, the transaction nesting depth, thetransaction diagnostic block address, and the transaction abort programstatus word (PSW).

Following an initial CPU reset, the contents of bit positions 8-9 ofcontrol register 0, bit positions 62-63 of control register 2, and thetransaction nesting depth are set to zero. When the transactionalexecution control, bit 8 of control register 0, is zero, the CPU cannotbe placed into the transactional execution mode.

Further details regarding the various controls are described below.

As indicated, the transactional execution facility is controlled by twobits in control register zero and three bits in control register two.For instance:

Control Register 0 Bits:

The bit assignments are as follows, in one embodiment:

-   -   Transactional Execution Control (TXC): Bit 8 of control register        zero is the transactional execution control. This bit provides a        mechanism whereby the control program (e.g., operating system)        can indicate whether or not the transactional execution facility        is usable by the program. Bit 8 is to be one to successfully        enter the transactional execution mode.    -   When bit 8 of control register 0 is zero, attempted execution of        the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END, EXTRACT TRANSACTION NESTING        DEPTH, TRANSACTION BEGIN and TRANSACTION END instructions        results in a special operation execution.    -   Transaction Execution Program Interruption Filtering Override        (PIFO): Bit 9 of control register zero is the transactional        execution program interruption filtering override. This bit        provides a mechanism by which the control program can ensure        that any program exception condition that occurs while the CPU        is in the transactional execution mode results in an        interruption, regardless of the effective program interruption        filtering control specified or implied by the TRANSACTION BEGIN        instruction(s).

Control Register 2 Bits:

The assignments are as follows, in one embodiment:

-   -   Transaction Diagnostic Scope (TDS): Bit 61 of control register 2        controls the applicability of the transaction diagnosis control        (TDC) in bits 62-63 of the register, as follows:

TDS

Value Meaning

-   -   0 The TDC applies regardless of whether the CPU is in the        problem or supervisor state.    -   1 The TDC applies only when the CPU is in the problem state.        When the CPU is in the supervisor state, processing is as if the        TDC contained zero.    -   Transaction Diagnostic Control (TDC): Bits 62-63 of control        register 2 are a 2-bit unsigned integer that may be used to        cause transactions to be randomly aborted for diagnostic        purposes. The encoding of the TDC is as follows, in one example:

TDC

Value Meaning

-   -   0 Normal operation; transactions are not aborted as a result of        the TDC.    -   1 Abort every transaction at a random instruction, but before        execution of the outermost TRANSACTION END instruction or        CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction that sets condition code        zero.    -   2 Abort random transactions at a random instruction.    -   3 Reserved

When a transaction is aborted due to a nonzero TDC, then either of thefollowing may occur:

-   -   The abort code is set to any of the codes 7-11, 13-18, or 255,        with the value of the code randomly chosen by the CPU; the        condition code is set corresponding to the abort code.    -   For a nonconstrained transaction, the condition code is set to        one. In this case, the abort code is not applicable.

It is model dependent whether TDC value 1 is implemented. If notimplemented, a value of 1 acts as if 2 was specified.

For a constrained transaction, a TDC value of 1 is treated as if a TDCvalue of 2 was specified.

If a TDC value of 3 is specified, the results are unpredictable.

Transaction Diagnostic Block Address (TDBA)

A valid transaction diagnostic block address (TDBA) is set from thefirst operand address of the outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN (TBEGIN)instruction when the B₁ field of the instruction is nonzero. When theCPU is in the primary space or access register mode, the TDBA designatesa location in the primary address space. When the CPU is in thesecondary space, or home space mode, the TDBA designates a location inthe secondary or home address space, respectively. When DAT (DynamicAddress Translation) is off, the TDBA designates a location in realstorage.

The TDBA is used by the CPU to locate the transaction diagnosticblock—called the TBEGIN-specified TDB—if the transaction is subsequentlyaborted. The rightmost three bits of the TDBA are zero, meaning that theTBEGIN-specified TDB is on a doubleword boundary.

When the B₁ field of an outermost TRANSACTION BEGIN (TBEGIN) instructionis zero, the transactional diagnostic block address is invalid, and noTBEGIN-specified TDB is stored if the transaction is subsequentlyaborted.

Transaction Abort PSW (TAPSW)

During execution of the TRANSACTION BEGIN (TBEGIN) instruction when thenesting depth is initially zero, the transaction abort PSW is set to thecontents of the current PSW; and the instruction address of thetransaction abort PSW designates the next sequential instruction (thatis, the instruction following the outermost TBEGIN). During execution ofthe TRANSACTION BEGIN constrained (TBEGINC) instruction when the nestingdepth is initially zero, the transaction abort PSW is set to thecontents of the current PSW, except that the instruction address of thetransaction abort PSW designates the TBEGINC instruction (rather thanthe next sequential instruction following the TBEGINC).

When a transaction is aborted, the condition code in the transactionabort PSW is replaced with a code indicating the severity of the abortcondition. Subsequently, if the transaction was aborted due to causesthat do not result in an interruption, the PSW is loaded from thetransaction abort PSW; if the transaction was aborted due to causes thatresult in an interruption, the transaction abort PSW is stored as theinterruption old PSW.

The transaction abort PSW is not altered during the execution of anyinner TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction.

Transaction Nesting Depth (TND)

The transaction nesting depth is, for instance, a 16-bit unsigned valuethat is incremented each time a TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction iscompleted with condition code 0 and decremented each time a TRANSACTIONEND or CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction is completed withcondition code zero. The transaction nesting depth is reset to zero whena transaction is aborted or by CPU reset.

In one embodiment, a maximum TND of 15 is implemented.

In one implementation, when the CPU is in the constrained transactionalexecution mode, the transaction nesting depth is one. Additionally,although the maximum TND can be represented as a 4-bit value, the TND isdefined to be a 16-bit value to facilitate its inspection in thetransaction diagnostic block.

Transaction Diagnostic Block (TDB)

When a transaction is aborted, various status information may be savedin a transaction diagnostic block (TDB), as follows:

-   -   1. TBEGIN-specified TDB: For a nonconstrained transaction, when        the B₁ field of the outermost TBEGIN instruction is nonzero, the        first operand address of the instruction designates the        TBEGIN-specified TDB. This is an application program specified        location that may be examined by the application's abort        handler.    -   2. Program-Interruption (PI) TDB: If a nonconstrained        transaction is aborted due to a non-filtered program exception        condition, or if a constrained transaction is aborted due to any        program exception condition (that is, any condition that results        in a program interruption being recognized), the PI-TDB is        stored into locations in the prefix area. This is available for        the operating system to inspect and log out in any diagnostic        reporting that it may provide.    -   3. Interception TDB: If the transaction is aborted due to any        program exception condition that results in interception (that        is, the condition causes interpretive execution to end and        control to return to the host program), a TDB is stored into a        location specified in the state description block for the guest        operating system.

The TBEGIN-specified TDB is only stored, in one embodiment, when the TDBaddress is valid (that is, when the outermost TBEGIN instruction's B₁field is nonzero).

For aborts due to unfiltered program exception conditions, only one ofeither the PI-TDB or Interception TDB will be stored. Thus, there may bezero, one, or two TDBs stored for an abort.

Further details regarding one example of each of the TDBs are describedbelow:

TBEGIN-specified TDB: The 256-byte location specified by a validtransaction diagnostic block address. When the transaction diagnosticblock address is valid, the TBEGIN-specified TDB is stored on atransaction abort. The TBEGIN-specified TDB is subject to all storageprotection mechanisms that are in effect at the execution of theoutermost TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction. A PER (Program Event Recording)storage alteration event for any portion of the TBEGIN-specified TDB isdetected during the execution of the outermost TBEGIN, not during thetransaction abort processing.

One purpose of PER is to assist in debugging programs. It permits theprogram to be alerted to the following types of events, as examples:

-   -   Execution of a successful branch instruction. The option is        provided of having an event occur only when the branch target        location is within the designated storage area.    -   Fetching of an instruction from the designated storage area.    -   Alteration of the contents of the designated storage area. The        option is provided of having an event occur only when the        storage area is within designated address spaces.    -   Execution of a STORE USING REAL ADDRESS instruction.    -   Execution of the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END or TRANSACTION END        instruction.

The program can selectively specify that one or more of the above typesof events be recognized, except that the event for STORE USING REALADDRESS can be specified only along with the storage alteration event.The information concerning a PER event is provided to the program bymeans of a program interruption, with the cause of the interruptionbeing identified in the interruption code.

When the transaction diagnostic block address is not valid, aTBEGIN-specified TDB is not stored.

Program-Interruption TDB:

Real locations 6,144-6,399 (1800-18FF hex). The program interruption TDBis stored when a transaction is aborted due to program interruption.When a transaction is aborted due to other causes, the contents of theprogram interruption TDB are unpredictable.

The program interruption TDB is not subject to any protection mechanism.PER storage alteration events are not detected for the programinterruption TDB when it is stored during a program interruption.

Interception TDB:

The 256-byte host real location specified by locations 488-495 of thestate description. The interception TDB is stored when an abortedtransaction results in a guest program interruption interception (thatis, interception code 8). When a transaction is aborted due to othercauses, the contents of the interception TDB are unpredictable. Theinterception TDB is not subject to any protection mechanism.

As depicted in FIG. 7, the fields of a transaction diagnostic block 700are as follows, in one embodiment:

Format 702: Byte 0 contains a validity and format indication, asfollows:

Value Meaning

-   -   0 The remaining fields of the TDB are unpredictable.    -   1 A format-1 TDB, the remaining fields of which are described        below.    -   2-255 Reserved    -   A TDB in which the format field is zero is referred to as a null        TDB.    -   Flags 704: Byte 1 contains various indications, as follows:        -   Conflict Token Validity (CTV): When a transaction is aborted            due to a fetch or store conflict (that is, abort codes 9 or            10, respectively), bit 0 of byte 1 is the conflict token            validity indication. When the CTV indication is one, the            conflict token 710 in bytes 16-23 of the TDB contain the            logical address at which the conflict was detected. When the            CTV indication is zero, bytes 16-23 of the TDB are            unpredictable.        -   When a transaction is aborted due to any reason other than a            fetch or store conflict, bit 0 of byte 1 is stored as zero.        -   Constrained-Transaction Indication (CTI): When the CPU is in            the constrained transactional execution mode, bit 1 of byte            1 is set to one. When the CPU is in the nonconstrained            transactional execution mode, bit 1 of byte 1 is set to            zero.        -   Reserved: Bits 2-7 of byte 1 are reserved, and stored as            zeros.    -   Transaction Nesting Depth (TND) 706: Bytes 6-7 contain the        transaction nesting depth when the transaction was aborted.    -   Transaction Abort Code (TAC) 708: Bytes 8-15 contain a 64-bit        unsigned transaction abort code. Each code indicates a reason        for a transaction being aborted.    -   It is model dependent whether the transaction abort code is        stored in the program interruption TDB when a transaction is        aborted due to conditions other than a program interruption.    -   Conflict Token 710: For transactions that are aborted due to        fetch or store conflict (that is, abort codes 9 and 10,        respectively), bytes 16-23 contain the logical address of the        storage location at which the conflict was detected. The        conflict token is meaningful when the CTV bit, bit 0 of byte 1,        is one.    -   When the CTV bit is zero, bytes 16-23 are unpredictable.    -   Because of speculative execution by the CPU, the conflict token        may designate a storage location that would not necessarily be        accessed by the transaction's conceptual execution sequence.    -   Aborted Transaction Instruction Address (ATIA) 712: Bytes 24-31        contain an instruction address that identifies the instruction        that was executing when an abort was detected. When a        transaction is aborted due to abort codes 2, 5, 6, 11, 13, 17,        18, or 256 or higher, or when a transaction is aborted due to        abort codes 4 or 12 and the program exception condition is        nullifying, the ATIA points directly to the instruction that was        being executed. When a transaction is aborted due to abort codes        4 or 12, and the program exception condition is not nullifying,        the ATIA points past the instruction that was being executed.    -   When a transaction is aborted due to abort codes 7-10, 14-16, or        255, the ATIA does not necessarily indicate the exact        instruction causing the abort, but may point to an earlier or        later instruction within the transaction.    -   If a transaction is aborted due to an instruction that is the        target of an execute-type instruction, the ATIA identifies the        execute-type instruction, either pointing to the instruction or        past it, depending on the abort code. The ATIA does not indicate        the target of the execute-type instruction.    -   The ATIA is subject to the addressing mode when the transaction        is aborted. In the 24-bit addressing mode, bits 0-40 of the        field contain zeros. In the 31-bit addressing mode, bits 0-32 of        the field contain zeros.    -   It is model dependent whether the aborted transaction        instruction address is stored in the program interruption TDB        when a transaction is aborted due to conditions other than a        program interruption.    -   When a transaction is aborted due to abort code 4 or 12, and the        program exception condition is not nullifying, the ATIA does not        point to the instruction causing the abort. By subtracting the        number of halfwords indicated by the interruption length code        (ILC) from the ATIA, the instruction causing the abort can be        identified in conditions that are suppressing or terminating, or        for non-PER events that are completing. When a transaction is        aborted due to a PER event, and no other program exception        condition is present, the ATIA is unpredictable.    -   When the transaction diagnostic block address is valid, the ILC        may be examined in program interruption identification (PhD) in        bytes 36-39 of the TBEGIN-specified TDB. When filtering does not        apply, the ILC may be examined in the PhD at location 140-143 in        real storage.    -   Exception Access Identification (EAID) 714: For transactions        that are aborted due to certain filtered program exception        conditions, byte 32 of the TBEGIN-specified TDB contains the        exception access identification. In one example of the        z/Architecture, the format of the EAID, and the cases for which        it is stored, are the same as those described in real location        160 when the exception condition results in an interruption, as        described in the above-incorporated by reference Principles of        Operation.    -   For transactions that are aborted for other reasons, including        any exception conditions that result in a program interruption,        byte 32 is unpredictable. Byte 32 is unpredictable in the        program interruption TDB.    -   This field is stored only in the TDB designated by the        transaction diagnostic block address; otherwise, the field is        reserved. The EAID is stored only for access list controlled or        DAT protection, ASCE-type, page translation, region first        translation, region second translation, region third        translation, and segment translation program exception        conditions.    -   Data Exception Code (DXC) 716: For transactions that are aborted        due to filtered data exception program exception conditions,        byte 33 of the TBEGIN specified TDB contains the data exception        code. In one example of the z/Architecture, the format of the        DXC, and the cases for which it is stored, are the same as those        described in real location 147 when the exception condition        results in an interruption, as described in the        above-incorporated by reference Principles of Operation. In one        example, location 147 includes the DXC.    -   For transactions that are aborted for other reasons, including        any exception conditions that result in a program interruption,        byte 33 is unpredictable. Byte 33 is unpredictable in the        program interruption TDB.    -   This field is stored only in the TDB designated by the        transaction diagnostic block address; otherwise, the field is        reserved. The DXC is stored only for data program exception        conditions.    -   Program Interruption Identification (PIID) 718: For transactions        that are aborted due to filtered program exception conditions,        bytes 36-39 of the TBEGIN-specified TDB contain the program        interruption identification. In one example of the        z/Architecture, the format of the PIID is the same as that        described in real locations 140-143 when the condition results        in an interruption (as described in the above-incorporated by        reference Principles of Operation), except that the instruction        length code in bits 13-14 of the PIID is respective to the        instruction at which the exception condition was detected.    -   For transactions that are aborted for other reasons, including        exception conditions that result in a program interruption,        bytes 36-39 are unpredictable. Bytes 36-39 are unpredictable in        the program interruption TDB.    -   This field is stored only in the TDB designated by the        transaction diagnostic block address; otherwise, the field is        reserved. The program interruption identification is only stored        for program exception conditions.    -   Translation Exception Identification (TEID) 720: For        transactions that are aborted due to any of the following        filtered program exception conditions, bytes 40-47 of the        TBEGIN-specified TDB contain the translation exception        identification.        -   Access list controlled or DAT protection        -   ASCE-type        -   Page translation        -   Region-first translation        -   Region-second translation        -   Region-third translation        -   Segment translation exception    -   In one example of the z/Architecture, the format of the TEID is        the same as that described in real locations 168-175 when the        condition results in an interruption, as described in the        above-incorporated by reference Principles of Operation.    -   For transactions that are aborted for other reasons, including        exception conditions that result in a program interruption,        bytes 40-47 are unpredictable. Bytes 40-47 are unpredictable in        the program interruption TDB.    -   This field is stored only in the TDB designated by the        transaction diagnostic block address; otherwise, the field is        reserved.    -   Breaking Event Address 722: For transactions that are aborted        due to filtered program exception conditions, bytes 48-55 of the        TBEGIN-specified TDB contain the breaking event address. In one        example of the z/Architecture, the format of the breaking event        address is the same as that described in real locations 272-279        when the condition results in an interruption, as described in        the above-incorporated by reference Principles of Operation.    -   For transactions that are aborted for other reasons, including        exception conditions that result in a program interruption,        bytes 48-55 are unpredictable. Bytes 48-55 are unpredictable in        the program interruption TDB.    -   This field is stored only in the TDB designated by the        transaction diagnostic block address; otherwise, the field is        reserved.    -   Further details relating to breaking events are described below.    -   In one embodiment of the z/Architecture, when the PER-3 facility        is installed, it provides the program with the address of the        last instruction to cause a break in the sequential execution of        the CPU. Breaking event address recording can be used as a        debugging assist for wild branch detection. This facility        provides, for instance, a 64-bit register in the CPU, called the        breaking event address register. Each time an instruction other        than TRANSACTION ABORT causes a break in the sequential        instruction execution (that is, the instruction address in the        PSW is replaced, rather than incremented by the length of the        instruction), the address of that instruction is placed in the        breaking event address register. Whenever a program interruption        occurs, whether or not PER is indicated, the current contents of        the breaking event address register are placed in real storage        locations 272-279.    -   If the instruction causing the breaking event is the target of        an execute-type instruction (EXECUTE or EXECUTE RELATIVE LONG),        then the instruction address used to fetch the execute-type        instruction is placed in the breaking event address register.    -   In one embodiment of the z/Architecture, a breaking event is        considered to occur whenever one of the following instructions        causes branching: BRANCH AND LINK (BAL, BALR); BRANCH AND SAVE        (BAS, BASR); BRANCH AND SAVE AND SET MODE (BASSM); BRANCH AND        SET MODE (BSM); BRANCH AND STACK (BAKR); BRANCH ON CONDITION        (BC, BCR); BRANCH ON COUNT (BCT, BCTR, BCTG, BCTGR); BRANCH ON        INDEX HIGH (BXH, BXHG); BRANCH ON INDEX LOW OR EQUAL (BXLE,        BXLEG); BRANCH RELATIVE ON CONDITION (BRC); BRANCH RELATIVE ON        CONDITION LONG (BRCL); BRANCH RELATIVE ON COUNT (BRCT, BRCTG);        BRANCH RELATIVE ON INDEX HIGH (BRXH, BRXHG); BRANCH RELATIVE ON        INDEX LOW OR EQUAL (BRXLE, BRXLG); COMPARE AND BRANCH (CRB,        CGRB); COMPARE AND BRANCH RELATIVE (CRJ, CGRJ); COMPARE        IMMEDIATE AND BRANCH (CIB, CGIB); COMPARE IMMEDIATE AND BRANCH        RELATIVE (CIJ, CGIJ); COMPARE LOGICAL AND BRANCH (CLRB, CLGRB);        COMPARE LOGICAL AND BRANCH RELATIVE (CLRJ, CLGRJ); COMPARE        LOGICAL IMMEDIATE AND BRANCH (CLIB, CLGIB); and COMPARE LOGICAL        IMMEDIATE AND BRANCH RELATIVE (CLU, CLGIJ).    -   A breaking event is also considered to occur whenever one of the        following instructions completes: BRANCH AND SET AUTHORITY        (BSA); BRANCH IN SUBSPACE GROUP (BSG); BRANCH RELATIVE AND SAVE;        BRANCH RELATIVE AND SAVE LONG (BRASL); LOAD PSW (LPSW); LOAD PSW        EXTENDED (LPSWE); PROGRAM CALL (PC); PROGRAM RETURN (PR);        PROGRAM TRANSFER (PT); PROGRAM TRANSFER WITH INSTANCE (PTI);        RESUME PROGRAM (RP); and TRAP (TRAP2, TRAP4).    -   A breaking event is not considered to occur as a result of a        transaction being aborted (either implicitly or as a result of        the TRANSACTION ABORT instruction).    -   Model Dependent Diagnostic Information 724: Bytes 112-127        contain model dependent diagnostic information.    -   For all abort codes except 12 (filtered program interruption),        the model dependent diagnostic information is saved in each TDB        that is stored.    -   In one embodiment, the model dependent diagnostic information        includes the following:        -   Bytes 112-119 contain a vector of 64 bits called the            transactional execution branch indications (TXBI). Each of            the first 63 bits of the vector indicates the results of            executing a branching instruction while the CPU was in the            transactional execution mode, as follows:

Value Meaning

-   -   0 The instruction completed without branching.    -   1 The instruction completed with branching.    -   Bit 0 represents the result of the first such branching        instruction; bit 1 represents the result of the second such        instruction, and so forth.    -   If fewer than 63 branching instructions were executed while the        CPU was in the transactional execution mode, the rightmost bits        that do not correspond to branching instructions are set to        zeros (including bit 63). When more than 63 branching        instructions were executed, bit 63 of the TXBI is set to one.    -   Bits in the TXBI are set by instructions which are capable of        causing a breaking event, as listed above, except for the        following:        -   Any restricted instruction does not cause a bit to be set in            the TXBI.        -   For instructions of, for instance, the z/Architecture, when            the M₁ field of the BRANCH ON CONDITION, BRANCH RELATIVE ON            CONDITION, or BRANCH RELATIVE ON CONDITION LONG instruction            is zero, or when the R₂ field of the following instructions            is zero, it is model dependent whether the execution of the            instruction causes a bit to be set in the TXBI.            -   BRANCH AND LINK (BALR); BRANCH AND SAVE (BASR); BRANCH                AND SAVE AND SET MODE (BASSM); BRANCH AND SET MODE                (BSM); BRANCH ON CONDITION (BCR); and BRANCH ON COUNT                (BCTR, BCTGR)    -   For abort conditions that were caused by a host access        exception, bit position 0 of byte 127 is set to one. For all        other abort conditions, bit position 0 of byte 127 is set to        zero.    -   For abort conditions that were detected by the load/store unit        (LSU), the rightmost five bits of byte 127 contain an indication        of the cause. For abort conditions that were not detected by the        LSU, byte 127 is reserved.    -   General Registers 730: Bytes 128-255 contain the contents of        general registers 0-15 at the time the transaction was aborted.        The registers are stored in ascending order, beginning with        general register 0 in bytes 128-135, general register 1 in bytes        136-143, and so forth.    -   Reserved: All other fields are reserved. Unless indicated        otherwise, the contents of reserved fields are unpredictable.

As observed by other CPUs and the I/O subsystem, storing of the TDB(s)during a transaction abort is a multiple access reference occurringafter any non-transactional stores.

A transaction may be aborted due to causes that are outside the scope ofthe immediate configuration in which it executes. For example, transientevents recognized by a hypervisor (such as LPAR or z/VM) may cause atransaction to be aborted.

The information provided in the transaction diagnostic block is intendedfor diagnostic purposes and is substantially correct. However, becausean abort may have been caused by an event outside the scope of theimmediate configuration, information such as the abort code or programinterruption identification may not accurately reflect conditions withinthe configuration, and thus, should not be used in determining programaction.

In addition to the diagnostic information saved in the TDB, when atransaction is aborted due to any data exception program exceptioncondition and both the AFP register control, bit 45 of control register0, and the effective allow floating point operation control (F) are one,the data exception code (DXC) is placed into byte 2 of the floatingpoint control register (FPCR), regardless of whether filtering appliesto the program exception condition. When a transaction is aborted, andeither or both the AFP register control or effective allow floatingpoint operation control are zero, the DXC is not placed into the FPCR.

In one embodiment, as indicated herein, when the transaction executionfacility is installed, a number of general instructions are provided,including, for instance, EXTRACT TRANSACTION NESTING DEPTH,NONTRANSACTIONAL STORE, TRANSACTION ABORT, TRANSACTION BEGIN andTRANSACTION END. Further, when the conditional transaction end facilityis installed, the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction is provided.

When the CPU is in the transaction execution mode, attempted executionof certain instructions is restricted and causes the transaction to beaborted.

When issued in the constrained transactional execution mode, attemptedexecution of restricted instructions may also result in a transactionconstraint program interruption, or may result in execution proceedingas if the transaction was not constrained.

In one example of the z/Architecture, restricted instructions include,as examples, the following non-privileged instructions: COMPARE AND SWAPAND STORE; MODIFY RUNTIME INSTRUMENTATION CONTROLS; PERFORM LOCKEDOPERATION; PREFETCH DATA (RELATIVE LONG), when the code in the M₁ fieldis 6 or 7; STORE CHARACTERS UNDER MASK HIGH, when the M₃ field is zeroand the code in the R₁ field is 6 or 7; STORE FACILITY LIST EXTENDED;STORE RUNTIME INSTRUMENTATION CONTROLS; SUPERVISOR CALL; and TESTRUNTIME INSTRUMENTATION CONTROLS.

In the above list, COMPARE AND SWAP AND STORE and PERFORM LOCKEDOPERATION are complex instructions which can be more efficientlyimplemented by the use of basic instructions in the TX mode. The casesfor PREFETCH DATA and PREFETCH DATA RELATIVE LONG are restricted as thecodes of 6 and 7 release a cache line, necessitating the commitment ofthe data potentially prior to the completion of a transaction.SUPERVISOR CALL is restricted as it causes an interruption (which causesa transaction to be aborted).

Under the conditions listed below, the following instructions arerestricted:

-   -   BRANCH AND LINK (BALR), BRANCH AND SAVE (BASR), and BRANCH AND        SAVE AND SET MODE, when the R₂ field of the instruction is        nonzero and branch tracing is enabled.    -   BRANCH AND SAVE AND SET MODE and BRANCH AND SET MODE, when the        R₂ field is nonzero and mode tracing is enabled; SET ADDRESSING        MODE, when mode tracing is enabled.    -   CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END when the transaction nesting depth        is greater than one.    -   MONITOR CALL, when a monitor event condition is recognized.

The above list includes instructions that may form trace entries. Ifthese instructions were allowed to execute transactionally and formedtrace entries, and the transaction subsequently aborted, the trace tablepointer in control register 12 would be advanced, but the stores to thetrace table would be discarded. This would leave an inconsistent gap inthe trace table; thus, the instructions are restricted in the caseswhere they would form trace entries.

When the CPU is in the transactional execution mode, it is modeldependent whether the following instructions are restricted: CIPHERMESSAGE; CIPHER MESSAGE WITH CFB; CIPHER MESSAGE WITH CHAINING; CIPHERMESSAGE WITH COUNTER; CIPHER MESSAGE WITH OFB; COMPRESSION CALL; COMPUTEINTERMEDIATE MESSAGE DIGEST; COMPUTE LAST MESSAGE DIGEST; COMPUTEMESSAGE AUTHENTICATION CODE; CONVERT UNICODE-16 TO UNICODE-32; CONVERTUNICODE-16 TO UNICODE-8; CONVERT UNICODE-32 TO UNICODE-16; CONVERTUNICODE-32 TO UNICODE-8; CONVERT UNICODE-8 TO UNICODE-16; CONVERTUNICODE-8 TO UNICODE-32; PERFORM CRYPTOGRAPHIC COMPUTATION; RUNTIMEINSTRUMENTATION OFF; and RUNTIME INSTRUMENTATION ON.

Each of the above instructions is either currently implemented by thehardware co-processor, or has been in past machines, and thus, isconsidered restricted.

When the effective allow AR modification (A) control is zero, thefollowing instructions are restricted: COPY ACCESS; LOAD ACCESSMULTIPLE; LOAD ADDRESS EXTENDED; and SET ACCESS.

Each of the above instructions causes the contents of an access registerto be modified. If the A control in the TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction iszero, then the program has explicitly indicated that access registermodification is not to be allowed.

When the effective allow floating point operation (F) control is zero,floating point instructions are restricted.

Under certain circumstances, the following instructions may berestricted: EXTRACT CPU TIME; EXTRACT PSW; STORE CLOCK; STORE CLOCKEXTENDED; and STORE CLOCK FAST.

Each of the above instructions is subject to an interception control inthe interpretative execution state description. If the hypervisor hasset the interception control for these instructions, then theirexecution may be prolonged due to hypervisor implementation; thus, theyare considered restricted if an interception occurs.

When a nonconstrained transaction is aborted because of the attemptedexecution of a restricted instruction, the transaction abort code in thetransaction diagnostic block is set to 11 (restricted instruction), andthe condition code is set to 3, except as follows: when a nonconstrainedtransaction is aborted due to the attempted execution of an instructionthat would otherwise result in a privileged operation exception, it isunpredictable whether the abort code is set to 11 (restrictedinstruction) or 4 (unfiltered program interruption resulting from therecognition of the privileged operation program interruption). When anonconstrained transaction is aborted due to the attempted execution ofPREFETCH DATA (RELATIVE LONG) when the code in the M₁ field is 6 or 7 orSTORE CHARACTERS UNDER MASK HIGH when the M₃ field is zero and the codein the R₁ field is 6 or 7, it is unpredictable whether the abort code isset to 11 (restricted instruction) or 16 (cache other). When anonconstrained transaction is aborted due to the attempted execution ofMONITOR CALL, and both a monitor event condition and a specificationexception condition are present it is unpredictable whether the abortcode is set to 11 or 4, or, if the program interruption is filtered, 12.

Additional instructions may be restricted in a constrained transaction.Although these instructions are not currently defined to be restrictedin a nonconstrained transaction, they may be restricted under certaincircumstances in a nonconstrained transaction on future processors.

Certain restricted instructions may be allowed in the transactionalexecution mode on future processors. Therefore, the program should notrely on the transaction being aborted due to the attempted execution ofa restricted instruction. The TRANSACTION ABORT instruction should beused to reliably cause a transaction to be aborted.

In a nonconstrained transaction, the program should provide analternative non-transactional code path to accommodate a transactionthat aborts due to a restricted instruction.

In operation, when the transaction nesting depth is zero, execution ofthe TRANSACTION BEGIN (TBEGIN) instruction resulting in condition codezero causes the CPU to enter the nonconstrained transactional executionmode. When the transaction nesting depth is zero, execution of theTRANSACTION BEGIN constrained (TBEGINC) instruction resulting incondition code zero causes the CPU to enter the constrainedtransactional execution mode.

Except where explicitly noted otherwise, all rules that apply fornon-transactional execution also apply to transactional execution. Beloware additional characteristics of processing while the CPU is in thetransactional execution mode.

When the CPU is in the nonconstrained transactional execution mode,execution of the TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction resulting in conditioncode zero causes the CPU to remain in the nonconstrained transactionalexecution mode.

As observed by the CPU, fetches and stores made in the transactionexecution mode are no different than those made while not in thetransactional execution mode. As observed by other CPUs and by the I/Osubsystem, all storage operand accesses made while a CPU is in thetransactional execution mode appear to be a single block concurrentaccess. That is, the accesses to all bytes within a halfword, word,doubleword, or quadword are specified to appear to be block concurrentas observed by other CPUs and I/O (e.g., channel) programs. Thehalfword, word, doubleword, or quadword is referred to in this sectionas a block. When a fetch-type reference is specified to appear to beconcurrent within a block, no store access to the block by another CPUor I/O program is permitted during the time that bytes contained in theblock are being fetched. When a store-type reference is specified toappear to be concurrent within a block, no access to the block, eitherfetch or store, is permitted by another CPU or I/O program during thetime that the bytes within the block are being stored.

Storage accesses for instruction and DAT and ART (Access Register Table)table fetches follow the non-transactional rules.

The CPU leaves the transactional execution mode normally by means of aTRANSACTION END instruction that causes the transaction nesting depth totransition to zero or a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction thatsets the condition code to zero; in either of these cases, thetransaction completes.

When the CPU leaves the transactional execution mode by means of thecompletion of a TRANSACTION END instruction or a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTIONEND instruction that sets the condition code to zero, all stores madewhile in the transactional execution mode are committed; that is, thestores appear to occur as a single block-concurrent operation asobserved by other CPUs and by the I/O subsystem.

A transaction may be implicitly aborted for a variety of causes, or itmay be explicitly aborted by the TRANSACTION ABORT instruction. Examplepossible causes of a transaction abort, the corresponding abort code,and the condition code that is placed into the transaction abort PSW aredescribed below.

-   -   External Interruption: The transaction abort code is set to 2,        and the condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set to 2.        The transaction abort PSW is stored as the external old PSW as a        part of external interruption processing.    -   Program Interruption (Unfiltered): A program interruption        condition that results in an interruption (that is, an        unfiltered condition) causes the transaction to be aborted with        code 4. The condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set        specific to the program interruption code. The transaction abort        PSW is stored as the program old PSW as a part of program        interruption processing.    -   An instruction that would otherwise result in a transaction        being aborted due to an operation exception may yield alternate        results: for a nonconstrained transaction, the transaction may        instead abort with abort code 11 (restricted instruction); for a        constrained transaction, a transaction constraint program        interruption may be recognized instead of the operation        exception.    -   When a PER (Program Event Recording) event is recognized in        conjunction with any other unfiltered program exception        condition, the condition code is set to 3.    -   Machine Check Interruption: The transaction abort code is set to        5, and the condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set        to 2. The transaction abort PSW is stored as the machine check        old PSW as a part of machine check interruption processing.    -   I/O Interruption: The transaction abort code is set to 6, and        the condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set to 2. The        transaction abort PSW is stored as the I/O old PSW as a part of        I/O interruption processing.    -   Fetch Overflow: A fetch overflow condition is detected when the        transaction attempts to fetch from more locations than the CPU        supports. The transaction abort code is set to 7, and the        condition code is set to either 2 or 3.    -   Store Overflow: A store overflow condition is detected when the        transaction attempts to store to more locations than the CPU        supports. The transaction abort code is set to 8, and the        condition code is set to either 2 or 3.    -   Allowing the condition code to be either 2 or 3 in response to a        fetch or store overflow abort allows the CPU to indicate        potentially retryable situations (e.g., condition code 2        indicates re-execution of the transaction may be productive;        while condition code 3 does not recommend re-execution).    -   Fetch Conflict: A fetch conflict condition is detected when        another CPU or the I/O subsystem attempts to store into a        location that has been transactionally fetched by this CPU. The        transaction abort code is set to 9, and the condition code is        set to 2.    -   Store Conflict: A store conflict condition is detected when        another CPU or the I/O subsystem attempts to access a location        that has been stored during transactional execution by this CPU.        The transaction abort code is set to 10, and the condition code        is set to 2.    -   Restricted Instruction: When the CPU is in the transactional        execution mode, attempted execution of a restricted instruction        causes the transaction to be aborted. The transaction abort code        is set to 11, and the condition code is set to 3.    -   When the CPU is in the constrained transactional execution mode,        it is unpredictable whether attempted execution of a restricted        instruction results in a transaction constraint program        interruption or an abort due to a restricted instruction. The        transaction is still aborted but the abort code may indicate        either cause.    -   Program Exception Condition (Filtered): A program exception        condition that does not result in an interruption (that is, a        filtered condition) causes the transaction to be aborted with a        transaction abort code of 12. The condition code is set to 3.    -   Nesting Depth Exceeded: The nesting depth exceeded condition is        detected when the transaction nesting depth is at the maximum        allowable value for the configuration, and a TRANSACTION BEGIN        instruction is executed. The transaction is aborted with a        transaction abort code of 13, and the condition code is set to        3.    -   Cache Fetch Related Condition: A condition related to storage        locations fetched by the transaction is detected by the CPU's        cache circuitry. The transaction is aborted with a transaction        abort code of 14, and the condition code is set to either 2 or        3.    -   Cache Store Related Condition: A condition related to storage        locations stored by the transaction is detected by the CPU's        cache circuitry. The transaction is aborted with a transaction        abort code of 15, and the condition code is set to either 2 or        3.    -   Cache Other Condition: A cache other condition is detected by        the CPU's cache circuitry. The transaction is aborted with a        transaction abort code of 16, and the condition code is set to        either 2 or 3.    -   During transactional execution, if the CPU accesses instructions        or storage operands using different logical addresses that are        mapped to the same absolute address, it is model dependent        whether the transaction is aborted. If the transaction is        aborted due to accesses using different logical addresses mapped        to the same absolute address, abort code 14, 15, or 16 is set,        depending on the condition.    -   CTEND Negative Operand Condition: A CTEND negative operand        condition is recognized when the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END        instruction is executed, and the contents of the second operand        are negative. The transaction is aborted with a transaction        abort code of 17, and the condition code is set to 3.    -   CTEND Time Out Condition: A CTEND time out condition is        recognized when the execution of a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END        instruction exceeds a model-dependent limit. The transaction        abort code is set to 18, and the condition code is set to 2.    -   Miscellaneous Condition: A miscellaneous condition is any other        condition recognized by the CPU that causes the transaction to        abort. The transaction abort code is set to 255 and the        condition code is set to either 2 or 3.    -   When multiple configurations are executing in the same machine        (for example, logical partitions or virtual machines), a        transaction may be aborted due to an external machine check or        I/O interruption that occurred in a different configuration.    -   Although examples are provided above, other causes of a        transaction abort with corresponding abort codes and condition        codes may be provided. For instance, a cause may be a Restart        Interruption, in which the transaction abort code is set to 1,        and the condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set to 2.        The transaction abort PSW is stored as the restart-old PSW as a        part of restart processing. As a further example, a cause may be        a Supervisor Call condition, in which the abort code is set to        3, and the condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set        to 3. Other or different examples are also possible.    -   Notes:    -   1. The miscellaneous condition may result from any of the        following:        -   Instructions, such as, in the z/Architecture, COMPARE AND            REPLACE DAT TABLE ENTRY, COMPARE AND SWAP AND PURGE,            INVALIDATE DAT TABLE ENTRY, INVALIDATE PAGE TABLE ENTRY,            PERFORM FRAME MANAGEMENT FUNCTION in which the NQ control is            zero and the SK control is one, SET STORAGE KEY EXTENDED in            which the NQ control is zero, performed by another CPU in            the configuration; the condition code is set to 2.        -   An operator function, such as reset, restart or stop, or the            equivalent SIGNAL PROCESSOR order is performed on the CPU.            The condition code is set to 2.        -   Any other condition not enumerated above; the condition code            is set to 2 or 3.    -   2. The location at which fetch and store conflicts are detected        may be anywhere within the same cache line.    -   3. Under certain conditions, the CPU may not be able to        distinguish between similar abort conditions. For example, a        fetch or store overflow may be indistinguishable from a        respective fetch or store conflict.    -   4. Speculative execution of multiple instruction paths by the        CPU may result in a transaction being aborted due to conflict or        overflow conditions, even if such conditions do not occur in the        conceptual sequence. While in the constrained transactional        execution mode, the CPU may temporarily inhibit speculative        execution, allowing the transaction to attempt to complete        without detecting such conflicts or overflows speculatively.

Execution of a TRANSACTION ABORT instruction causes the transaction toabort. The transaction abort code is set from the second operandaddress. The condition code is set to either 2 or 3, depending onwhether bit 63 of the second operand address is zero or one,respectively.

As mentioned herein, the transactional facility provides fornonconstrained transactions (as well as constrained transactions), andprocessing associated therewith, including, but not limited to,transaction end, and conditional transaction end, assuming theconditional transaction end facility is installed. Further detailsregarding each of these aspects are described below.

In one embodiment, processing of a nonconstrained transaction includes:

-   -   If TND=0:        -   If B₁≠0, transaction diagnostic block address set from first            operand address.        -   Transaction abort PSW set to next sequential instruction            address.        -   General register pairs designated by I₂ field are saved in            model-dependent location.            -   Not directly accessible by the program    -   Effective PIFC, A, & F controls computed        -   Effective A=TBEGIN A & any outer A        -   Effective F=TBEGIN F & any outer F        -   Effective PIFC=max(TBEGIN PIFC, any outer PIFC)    -   Transaction nesting depth (TND) incremented    -   If TND transitions from 0 to 1, CPU enters the transactional        execution mode    -   Condition code set to zero        -   When instruction following TBEGIN receives control:            -   TBEGIN success indicated by CC0            -   Aborted transaction indicated by nonzero CC    -   Exceptions:        -   Abort code 13 if nesting depth exceeded        -   Access exception (one of various PICs) if the B₁ field is            nonzero, and the storage operand cannot be accessed for a            store operation        -   Execute exception (PIC 0003) if the TBEGIN instruction is            the target of an execute-type instruction        -   Operation exception (PIC 0001) if the transactional            execution facility is not installed        -   PIC 0006 if either            -   PIFC is invalid (value of 3)            -   Second-operand address not doubleword aligned        -   PIC 0013 hex if transactional-execution control (CR0.8) is            zero        -   PIC 0018 hex if issued in constrained TX mode

As indicated above, a nonconstrained (or a constrained transaction) maybe ended by a TRANSACTION END (TEND) instruction. Further detailsregarding the processing of a transaction end (TEND) instruction aredescribed herein.

Initially, based on the processor obtaining (e.g., fetching, receiving,etc.) the TEND instruction, various exception checking is performed andif there is an exception, then the exception is handled. For instance,if the TRANSACTION END is the target of an execute-type instruction, theoperation is suppressed and an execute exception is recognized; and aspecial operation exception is recognized and the operation issuppressed if the transactional execution control, bit 8 of CR0, iszero. Yet further, an operation exception is recognized and theoperation is suppressed, if the transactional execution facility is notinstalled in the configuration.

However, if an execute exception is not recognized, then the transactionnesting depth is decremented (e.g., by one). A determination is made asto whether the transactional nesting depth is zero following thedecrementing. If the transaction nesting depth is zero, then all storeaccesses made by the transaction are committed. Further, the CPU leavesthe transactional execution mode, and the instruction completes.

If the transaction nesting depth is not equal to zero, then theTRANSACTION END instruction just completes.

If the CPU is in the transaction execution mode at the beginning of theoperation, the condition code is set to 0; otherwise, the condition codeis set to 2.

It is noted that the effective allow floating point operation (F)control, allow AR modification (A) control, and program interruptionfiltering control (PIFC) are reset to their respective values prior tothe TRANSACTION BEGIN instruction that initiated the level being ended.Further, a serialization function is performed at the completion of theoperation.

The PER instruction fetching and transaction end events that arerecognized at the completion of the outermost TRANSACTION ENDinstruction do not result in the transaction being aborted.

In a further embodiment, if the conditional transaction end facility isinstalled, then in addition to the TRANSACTION END instruction, there isthe CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction. The CONDITIONAL TRANSACTIONEND (CTEND) instruction is a specialized instruction that allows aprogram executing in the nonconstrained transactional execution mode toinspect a storage location that is modified by either another CPU or theI/O subsystem and to take action based on the inspection. For instance,based on the inspected data, transactional execution may either beended, aborted, or the decision to end/abort may be delayed, e.g., untila predefined event occurs, such as a predefined relationship with aselected time interval is met (e.g., the time interval is exceeded) orthe inspected data becomes a prespecified value, as further describedbelow. Further, additional or other events may be used to end a delay,such as an interrupt becoming pending or other events.

One embodiment of a format of a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instructionis described with reference to FIG. 8. As one example, a CONDITIONALTRANSACTION END instruction 800 includes a plurality of opcode fields802 a, 802 b specifying an opcode that designates a conditionaltransaction end operation; a mask field (M₁) 804; an index field (X₂)806; a base field (B₂) 808; a first displacement field (DL₂) 810; and asecond displacement field (DH₂) 812. The contents of the generalregisters designated by the X₂ and B₂ fields are added to the contentsof a concatenation of the DH₂ and DL₂ fields to form an address of thesecond operand (i.e., an address of the storage location which includesthe second operand). When either or both the X₂ or B₂ fields are zero,the corresponding register does not take part in the addition.

In operation, when the CTEND instruction is executed, the followingoccurs: when the CPU is in the nonconstrained transactional executionmode and the transaction nesting depth is one at the beginning of theinstruction, the doubleword second operand is inspected. The secondoperand is treated as a 64-bit signed binary integer, and subsequentexecution is dependent on the contents of the operand, as follows:

-   -   When the second operand is negative, transactional execution is        aborted with abort code 17 (CTEND abort), and the condition code        in the transaction-abort PSW is set to 3.    -   When the second operand is zero, the transaction is ended. All        store accesses made by the transaction are committed, the        transaction nesting depth is set to zero, the CPU leaves the        transactional execution mode, and the instruction completes by        setting condition code 0.    -   When the second operand is positive, completion of the        instruction is delayed until either (a) the operand becomes        negative or zero, in which case, instruction execution is as        described above, or (b) a model-dependent interval not to        exceed, for example, one millisecond has been exceeded.    -   If the model-dependent interval is exceeded, transactional        execution is aborted with abort code 18, and the condition code        in the transaction-abort PSW is set to 2. If an interruption        becomes pending while the CPU is delayed, the instruction is        nullified, and the interruption is processed.    -   For the purposes of storage-access ordering and block        concurrency, the second operand is not considered to be fetched        when it is positive. However, CTEND appears to perform a single        operand fetch when the operand is negative or zero. Further,        access exceptions are recognized for the operand, regardless of        its sign.

CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END is a restricted instruction under thefollowing conditions:

-   -   The instruction is executed in the constrained transactional        execution mode. In this case, a transaction-constraint        program-exception condition may be recognized.    -   The instruction is executed in the nonconstrained transactional        execution mode, and the transaction nesting depth is greater        than one at the beginning of the instruction. In this case,        transactional execution is aborted due to a restricted        instruction abort condition (abort code 11).

When the CPU is not in the transactional execution mode at the beginningof the instruction, the following applies:

-   -   It is model dependent whether an access exception or PER        zero-address-detection event is recognized for the second        operand location.    -   If an access exception is not recognized for the second operand        location, the instruction completes by setting condition code 2.

A serialization function is performed at the completion of theoperation.

The M₁ field is ignored, but should contain zero; otherwise, the programmay not operate compatibly in the future.

Special Conditions

An execute exception is recognized and the operation is suppressed ifthe instruction is the target of an execute-type instruction.

A special-operation exception is recognized and the operation issuppressed if the transactional-execution control, bit 8 of controlregister 0, is zero.

A specification exception is recognized and the operation is suppressedif the second operand is not on a doubleword boundary. It is modeldependent whether this condition is recognized when the CPU is not inthe transactional execution mode at the beginning of the instruction.

Resulting Condition Code:

0 Transaction ended

1 Not applicable

2 CPU not in the transactional execution mode

3 Not applicable

Program Exceptions:

-   -   Access (fetch, second operand)    -   Execute        -   Operation (if the conditional transaction end facility is            not installed)    -   Special operation    -   Specification    -   Transaction constraint

The priority of execution for the instruction is as follows, in oneexample:

-   -   1.-7.D Exceptions with the same priority as the priority of        program interruption conditions for the general case.    -   7.E Abort code 11 (restricted instruction) if the transaction        nesting depth is greater than one.    -   8.A Specification exception (second operand not on a doubleword        boundary)*.    -   8.B Access exception (second operand location)*.    -   9 Condition code 2 (transaction nesting depth is zero).    -   10 Abort code 17 (transaction nesting depth is one, second        operand is negative).    -   11 Condition code 0 (transaction nesting depth is one, second        operand is zero).    -   12 Abort code 18 (transaction nesting depth is one, second        operand remained positive for model-dependent time limit).    -   *It is model dependent whether this condition is recognized when        the transaction nesting depth is zero (that is, when the CPU is        not in the transactional execution mode).

Programming Notes:

-   -   1. Although the instruction does not directly set the condition        code to 3, if transactional execution is aborted, then the        condition code in the transaction-abort PSW is set to 3 by        subsequent transaction-abort processing.    -   2. As observed by the CPU executing CTEND, there is no        guaranteed ordering of changes made to the second operand        location by other CPUs. For example, assume that (a) the CPU is        in the transactional execution mode, (b) a doubleword location        (DW) initially contains a positive value, and (c) CTEND is        executed, designating DW as its second operand location. If one        or more other CPUs store negative, zero, and positive values to        the doubleword, it is unpredictable whether the CTEND will        abort, complete with condition code zero, or continue to delay.    -   3. Depending on the model, the CPU may abort the transaction if        the CTEND storage operand is within the same cache line as other        data accessed within the transaction, when another CPU attempts        to modify the CTEND storage operand. Therefore, normal        transactional data should not be placed in the same cache line        as the CTEND storage operand.

Further details regarding execution of a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION ENDinstruction are described with reference to FIGS. 9-10. Referring toFIG. 9, initially, a processor obtains (e.g., fetches, receives, isprovided or otherwise gets) a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction,STEP 900. The processor then executes the instruction, STEP 902. Asdescribed herein, during execution, the second operand is fetched from astorage location specified by the instruction and inspected. Subsequentexecution of the instruction is dependent on the contents of thatoperand. For instance, if the second operand is a negative value, thenthe transaction is aborted and a condition code is set in thetransaction abort PSW to, for instance, three. Further, if the secondoperand is zero, then the instruction is ended, store accesses arecommitted, the transaction nesting depth is set to zero, the conditioncode is set to zero, and the processor leaves the transaction mode.Further, if the second operand has a positive value, then completion ofthe instruction is delayed, e.g., until a predefined event occurs.

Further aspects relating to execution of the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION ENDinstruction by a processor are described with reference to FIG. 10. Inone example, when a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction is executed,a determination is made as to whether the transactional executionfacility is usable, INQUIRY 1000. For instance, if bit 8 of controlregister (CR) 0 is set to zero, then the facility is not available, andan exception (e.g., a special operation exception) is provided, STEP1002. However, if bit 8 of control register 0 is not equal to zero, thenthe transaction execution facility is usable, and a furtherdetermination is made as to whether the processor (e.g., CPU) executingthe instruction is in transactional execution mode, INQUIRY 1004. If theprocessor is not in transactional execution mode as indicated by thetransaction nesting depth (TND) being equal to zero, then a conditioncode is set to, for instance, 2 and the instruction ends, STEP 1006.However, if the transaction nesting depth is greater than zeroindicating that the processor is in transactional execution mode, then adetermination is made as to whether the processor executing theinstruction is in the nonconstrained transactional execution mode,INQUIRY 1008. If not, then an exception, such as a transactionconstraint program interruption, is provided, in one example, STEP 1010.

If the processor is in the nonconstrained transactional execution mode,then a determination is made as to whether the transaction nesting depthat the beginning of the instruction is equal to one, INQUIRY 1012. Ifthe transaction nesting depth is greater than one, then an exception isprovided indicating, in one example, a restricted instruction: abortcode 11, STEP 1014. However, if the CPU is in the nonconstrainedtransactional execution mode, and the transaction nesting depth is oneat the beginning of the instruction, then the second operand is fetched,STEP 1016. In one example, the second operand is treated as a 64-bitsigned binary integer and subsequent execution of the CONDITIONALTRANSACTION END instruction is dependent on the contents of the secondoperand. For instance, if the value of the second operand is a negativevalue, INQUIRY 1018, then the transaction execution is aborted with, forinstance, an abort code 17, and a condition code in thetransaction-abort program status word (PSW) is set to, for instance, 3,STEP 1020. In this case, transactional store data is discarded.

However, if the value of the second operand is zero, INQUIRY 1018, thenthe transaction is ended, all store accesses made by the transaction arecommitted, the transaction nesting depth is set to zero, the processorleaves the transactional execution mode, and the instruction completesby setting a condition code to, for instance, zero, STEP 1022.

Returning to INQUIRY 1018, if the value of the second operand is apositive value, then completion of the instruction is delayed until theoccurrence of a predefined event, such as, for instance, the operandbecomes negative or zero, in which case the instruction execution is asdescribed above, or a model dependent interval has been exceeded. Whilein the delay, in one example, an interrupt may become pending. Thus, inone example, processing continues with a determination of whether aninterrupt for the processor is pending, INQUIRY 1024. If an interrupt ispending, the transaction is aborted and the interruption is processed,STEP 1026. However, if an interrupt is not pending, then a determinationis made as to whether a model-dependent interval (e.g., not to exceedone millisecond) is exceeded, INQUIRY 1028. If the model-dependentinterval has been exceeded, then, for instance, transactional executionis aborted with an abort code of, for instance, 18 (CTEND timeout), andthe condition code in the transaction abort PSW is set to, for instance,2 (transaction may be retried), STEP 1030. In another embodiment, theabort code is set to, for instance, 255 (miscellaneous), and thecondition code in the transaction abort PSW is set to, for instance, 3(do not retry). Other abort codes and condition codes are possible.

If there is no model-dependent timeout, then processing continues withre-fetching the second operand, STEP 1016, and inspecting the secondoperand, INQUIRY 1018. As can be seen, the delay continues until, forinstance, the second operand becomes a negative value, the secondoperand becomes zero, an interrupt becomes pending or there is amodel-dependent timeout, as examples. This concludes processing of theCTEND instruction.

For the purposes of storage access ordering and block concurrency, thesecond operand is not considered to be fetched when it is positive.However, access exceptions are recognized for the operand regardless ofits sign.

Although in the above examples, the model-dependent interval is a timeinterval, in other examples, it may be other than a time interval, suchas number of instructions or other type of interval. Further, althoughthe inquiry is whether the interval has been exceeded, in furtherembodiments, other operations may be used, such as equal, less than,etc. Many variations are possible.

Described in detail above is a CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instructionthat allows a program executing in the nonconstrained transactionalexecution mode to inspect a storage location that is modified by eitheranother CPU or the I/O subsystem, and based on the inspected data,transactional execution may be ended, aborted or the decision toend/abort may be temporarily delayed. The conditional transaction endfacility of which the CONDITIONAL TRANSACTION END instruction is a partprovides a mechanism by which transactional execution on one CPU can beinfluenced by stores made by another CPU or the I/O subsystem, withoutcausing the transaction to be aborted due to a store conflict.

In one aspect, an instruction (e.g., the CTEND) is provided that whenexecuted continually tests a memory operand designated by theinstruction (e.g., the second operand) for a signed value. Based on thesigned value having a first value (e.g., a negative value), thetransaction is aborted and transactional store data is discarded.Further, based on the signed value having a second value (e.g., zero),the transaction is ended and transactional store data is stored tomemory. Yet further, based on the signed value having a third value(e.g., a positive value), the aborting or the ending of the transactionis delayed until occurrence of a predefined action, such as the signedvalue becoming the first value or the second value, or a predefinedrelationship with a model-dependent interval is met (e.g., the intervalis exceeded). Other predefined actions are also possible.

In one embodiment, the CTEND instruction conditionally ends atransaction based on an inspection of a memory location that is sharedbetween processors and the I/O subsystem, the other processors of whichmay or may not be executing in a transactional manner. Typically, storesto a memory location that is being inspected by a CPU in thetransactional execution mode would cause the transaction to be aborted;however, CTEND differs in that it does not cause an abort to berecognized because of a conflict.

In a further embodiment, when the second operand fetched by theinstruction is a positive value, it may be used to provide an indicationof the duration of the expected delay. For example, CPU 1 might beexecuting CTEND, waiting for CPU 2 to complete its serializedprocessing. CPU 2 might repeatedly store into CPU 1's CTEND secondoperand location, indicating its expected delay (e.g., will be done in 5microseconds, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . done). If CPU 1 sees that CPU 2 is notgoing to wrap up in a timely manner, it might end the CTEND immediately,without waiting. Other examples and/or variations are possible.

In addition to the above, aspects of the conditional transaction endfacility are described with reference to FIGS. 11A-11C. Referringinitially to FIG. 11A, a processor obtains a machine instruction(CTEND), STEP 1100, which includes an operation code to specify aconditional transaction end operation (1102), and one or more fields toprovide a location of an operand (1104). In one embodiment, the one ormore fields to provide a location of the operand include an index field,a base field, a first displacement field and a second displacementfield, and contents of registers designated by one or more of the indexfield and the base field are added to a concatenation of the seconddisplacement field and the first displacement field to provide thelocation of the operand, STEP 1106.

The processor then executes the machine instruction, STEP 1110. In oneembodiment, referring to FIGS. 11B-11C, the executing includes fetchingthe operand from the location, STEP 1120 (FIG. 11B). Based on theoperand being a first value (e.g., a negative value), INQUIRY 1130 (FIG.11C), the transactional execution of a transaction associated with themachine instruction is aborted, STEP 1132; based on the operand being asecond value (e.g., a zero), the transaction is ended, STEP 1140; andbased on the operand being a third value (e.g., a positive value),completion of the machine instruction is delayed until a predefinedaction occurs, STEP 1150.

As examples, the predefined action includes the operand becoming thefirst value or the second value, INQUIRY 1152, or an interval of timehas been exceeded, INQUIRY 1154. If the predefined action includes theoperand, which is refetched one or more times, becoming the first orsecond value, INQUIRY 1152, processing continues with INQUIRY 1130.However, if the predefined action is that the interval of time has beenexceeded, INQUIRY 1154, then the executing includes abortingtransactional execution of the transaction, STEP 1158, and setting acondition code in a transaction abort program status word to a definedvalue, STEP 1160. If, however, the interval of time has not beenexceeded, then, in one embodiment, the operand is refetched, STEP 1156,and processing continues with INQUIRY 1130.

Further, returning to INQUIRY 1130, in one embodiment, based on theoperand being the first value and aborting transactional execution, STEP1132, a condition code in a transaction abort program status word is setto a defined value, STEP 1134. Further, in one embodiment, based on theoperand being the second value, INQUIRY 1130, and ending thetransaction, STEP 1140, store accesses made by the transaction arecommitted, STEP 1142, a transaction nesting depth is set to zero, STEP1144, the processor exits transactional execution mode, STEP 1146, and acondition code is set to a defined value, STEP 1148.

In yet another embodiment, referring to STEP 1120 (FIG. 11B), theexecuting includes determining whether the processor is in anonconstrained transactional execution mode, INQUIRY 1122, anddetermining whether a transaction nesting depth is of a predefined value(e.g., 1), INQUIRY 1126. Based on the processor being in thenonconstrained transactional execution mode and the transaction nestingdepth being of the predefined value, the operand is fetched from thelocation, STEP 1128. In one or more embodiments, the operand is storedby another processor or an input/output subsystem coupled to theprocessor; the operand is a second operand of the instruction, and is a64-bit signed binary integer, STEP 1128.

In one embodiment, if the processor is not in the nonconstrainedtransactional execution mode, INQUIRY 1122, or the transaction nestingdepth is not equal to the predefined value, INQUIRY 1126, an exceptionis taken, STEP 1124.

As used herein, storage, central storage, main storage, memory and mainmemory are used interchangeably, unless otherwise noted, implicitly byusage or explicitly.

Referring to FIG. 12, in one example, a computer program product 1200includes, for instance, one or more non-transitory computer readablestorage media 1202 to store computer readable program code means, logicand/or instructions 1204 thereon to provide and facilitate one or moreembodiments.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

In addition to the above, one or more aspects may be provided, offered,deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider who offersmanagement of customer environments. For instance, the service providercan create, maintain, support, etc. computer code and/or a computerinfrastructure that performs one or more aspects for one or morecustomers. In return, the service provider may receive payment from thecustomer under a subscription and/or fee agreement, as examples.Additionally or alternatively, the service provider may receive paymentfrom the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.

In one aspect, an application may be deployed for performing one or moreembodiments. As one example, the deploying of an application comprisesproviding computer infrastructure operable to perform one or moreembodiments.

As a further aspect, a computing infrastructure may be deployedcomprising integrating computer readable code into a computing system,in which the code in combination with the computing system is capable ofperforming one or more embodiments.

As yet a further aspect, a process for integrating computinginfrastructure comprising integrating computer readable code into acomputer system may be provided. The computer system comprises acomputer readable medium, in which the computer medium comprises one ormore embodiments. The code in combination with the computer system iscapable of performing one or more embodiments.

Although various embodiments are described above, these are onlyexamples. For example, computing environments of other architectures canbe used to incorporate and use one or more embodiments. Further,different instructions, instruction formats, instruction fields and/orinstruction values may be used. Yet further, although examples of valuesfor abort codes and condition codes are provided, other values may beused. Moreover, different, other, and/or additionalrestrictions/constraints may be provided/used. Yet further, otherintervals may be provided and/or used in differing ways. Many variationsare possible.

Further, other types of computing environments can benefit and be used.As an example, a data processing system suitable for storing and/orexecuting program code is usable that includes at least two processorscoupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus.The memory elements include, for instance, local memory employed duringactual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memorywhich provide temporary storage of at least some program code in orderto reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storageduring execution.

Input/Output or I/O devices (including, but not limited to, keyboards,displays, pointing devices, DASD, tape, CDs, DVDs, thumb drives andother memory media, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directlyor through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters may also becoupled to the system to enable the data processing system to becomecoupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storagedevices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cablemodems, and Ethernet cards are just a few of the available types ofnetwork adapters.

Referring to FIG. 13, representative components of a Host Computersystem 5000 to implement one or more embodiments are portrayed. Therepresentative host computer 5000 comprises one or more CPUs 5001 incommunication with computer memory (i.e., central storage) 5002, as wellas I/O interfaces to storage media devices 5011 and networks 5010 forcommunicating with other computers or SANs and the like. The CPU 5001 iscompliant with an architecture having an architected instruction set andarchitected functionality. The CPU 5001 may have access registertranslation (ART) 5012, which includes an ART lookaside buffer (ALB)5013, for selecting an address space to be used by dynamic addresstranslation (DAT) 5003 for transforming program addresses (virtualaddresses) into real addresses of memory. A DAT typically includes atranslation lookaside buffer (TLB) 5007 for caching translations so thatlater accesses to the block of computer memory 5002 do not require thedelay of address translation. Typically, a cache 5009 is employedbetween computer memory 5002 and the processor 5001. The cache 5009 maybe hierarchical having a large cache available to more than one CPU andsmaller, faster (lower level) caches between the large cache and eachCPU. In some implementations, the lower level caches are split toprovide separate low level caches for instruction fetching and dataaccesses. In one embodiment, for the TX facility, a transactiondiagnostic block (TDB) 5100 and one or more buffers 5101 may be storedin one or more of cache 5009 and memory 5002. In one example, in TXmode, data is initially stored in a TX buffer, and when TX mode ends(e.g., outermost TEND), the data in the buffer is stored (committed) tomemory, or if there is an abort, the data in the buffer is discarded.

In one embodiment, an instruction is fetched from memory 5002 by aninstruction fetch unit 5004 via a cache 5009. The instruction is decodedin an instruction decode unit 5006 and dispatched (with otherinstructions in some embodiments) to instruction execution unit or units5008. Typically several execution units 5008 are employed, for examplean arithmetic execution unit, a floating point execution unit and abranch instruction execution unit. Further, in one embodiment of the TXfacility, various TX controls 5110 may be employed. The instruction isexecuted by the execution unit, accessing operands from instructionspecified registers or memory as needed. If an operand is to be accessed(loaded or stored) from memory 5002, a load/store unit 5005 typicallyhandles the access under control of the instruction being executed.Instructions may be executed in hardware circuits or in internalmicrocode (firmware) or by a combination of both.

In accordance with an aspect of the TX facility, processor 5001 alsoincludes a PSW 5102 (e.g., TX and/or abort PSW), a nesting depth 5104, aTDBA 5106, and one or more control registers 5108.

As noted, a computer system includes information in local (or main)storage, as well as addressing, protection, and reference and changerecording. Some aspects of addressing include the format of addresses,the concept of address spaces, the various types of addresses, and themanner in which one type of address is translated to another type ofaddress. Some of main storage includes permanently assigned storagelocations. Main storage provides the system with directly addressablefast-access storage of data. Both data and programs are to be loadedinto main storage (from input devices) before they can be processed.

Main storage may include one or more smaller, faster-access bufferstorages, sometimes called caches. A cache is typically physicallyassociated with a CPU or an I/O processor. The effects, except onperformance, of the physical construction and use of distinct storagemedia are generally not observable by the program.

Separate caches may be maintained for instructions and for dataoperands. Information within a cache is maintained in contiguous byteson an integral boundary called a cache block or cache line (or line, forshort). A model may provide an EXTRACT CACHE ATTRIBUTE instruction whichreturns the size of a cache line in bytes. A model may also providePREFETCH DATA and PREFETCH DATA RELATIVE LONG instructions which effectsthe prefetching of storage into the data or instruction cache or thereleasing of data from the cache.

Storage is viewed as a long horizontal string of bits. For mostoperations, accesses to storage proceed in a left-to-right sequence. Thestring of bits is subdivided into units of eight bits. An eight-bit unitis called a byte, which is the basic building block of all informationformats. Each byte location in storage is identified by a uniquenonnegative integer, which is the address of that byte location or,simply, the byte address. Adjacent byte locations have consecutiveaddresses, starting with 0 on the left and proceeding in a left-to-rightsequence. Addresses are unsigned binary integers and are 24, 31, or 64bits.

Information is transmitted between storage and a CPU or a channelsubsystem one byte, or a group of bytes, at a time. Unless otherwisespecified, in, for instance, the z/Architecture, a group of bytes instorage is addressed by the leftmost byte of the group. The number ofbytes in the group is either implied or explicitly specified by theoperation to be performed. When used in a CPU operation, a group ofbytes is called a field. Within each group of bytes, in, for instance,the z/Architecture, bits are numbered in a left-to-right sequence. Inthe z/Architecture, the leftmost bits are sometimes referred to as the“high-order” bits and the rightmost bits as the “low-order” bits. Bitnumbers are not storage addresses, however. Only bytes can be addressed.To operate on individual bits of a byte in storage, the entire byte isaccessed. The bits in a byte are numbered 0 through 7, from left toright (in, e.g., the z/Architecture). The bits in an address may benumbered 8-31 or 40-63 for 24-bit addresses, or 1-31 or 33-63 for 31-bitaddresses; they are numbered 0-63 for 64-bit addresses. In one example,bits 8-31 and 1-31 apply to addresses that are in a location (e.g.,register) that is 32 bits wide, whereas bits 40-63 and 33-63 apply toaddresses that are in a 64-bit wide location. Within any otherfixed-length format of multiple bytes, the bits making up the format areconsecutively numbered starting from 0. For purposes of error detection,and in preferably for correction, one or more check bits may betransmitted with each byte or with a group of bytes. Such check bits aregenerated automatically by the machine and cannot be directly controlledby the program. Storage capacities are expressed in number of bytes.When the length of a storage-operand field is implied by the operationcode of an instruction, the field is said to have a fixed length, whichcan be one, two, four, eight, or sixteen bytes. Larger fields may beimplied for some instructions. When the length of a storage-operandfield is not implied but is stated explicitly, the field is said to havea variable length. Variable-length operands can vary in length byincrements of one byte (or with some instructions, in multiples of twobytes or other multiples). When information is placed in storage, thecontents of only those byte locations are replaced that are included inthe designated field, even though the width of the physical path tostorage may be greater than the length of the field being stored.

Certain units of information are to be on an integral boundary instorage. A boundary is called integral for a unit of information whenits storage address is a multiple of the length of the unit in bytes.Special names are given to fields of 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 bytes on anintegral boundary. A halfword is a group of two consecutive bytes on atwo-byte boundary and is the basic building block of instructions. Aword is a group of four consecutive bytes on a four-byte boundary. Adoubleword is a group of eight consecutive bytes on an eight-byteboundary. A quadword is a group of 16 consecutive bytes on a 16-byteboundary. An octoword is a group of 32 consecutive bytes on a 32-byteboundary. When storage addresses designate halfwords, words,doublewords, quadwords, and octowords, the binary representation of theaddress contains one, two, three, four, or five rightmost zero bits,respectively. Instructions are to be on two-byte integral boundaries.The storage operands of most instructions do not have boundary-alignmentrequirements.

On devices that implement separate caches for instructions and dataoperands, a significant delay may be experienced if the program storesinto a cache line from which instructions are subsequently fetched,regardless of whether the store alters the instructions that aresubsequently fetched.

In one example, the embodiment may be practiced by software (sometimesreferred to licensed internal code, firmware, micro-code, milli-code,pico-code and the like, any of which would be consistent with one ormore embodiments). Referring to FIG. 13, software program code whichembodies one or more aspects may be accessed by processor 5001 of thehost system 5000 from long-term storage media devices 5011, such as aCD-ROM drive, tape drive or hard drive. The software program code may beembodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a dataprocessing system, such as a diskette, hard drive, or CD-ROM. The codemay be distributed on such media, or may be distributed to users fromcomputer memory 5002 or storage of one computer system over a network5010 to other computer systems for use by users of such other systems.

The software program code includes an operating system which controlsthe function and interaction of the various computer components and oneor more application programs. Program code is normally paged fromstorage media device 5011 to the relatively higher-speed computerstorage 5002 where it is available for processing by processor 5001. Thetechniques and methods for embodying software program code in memory, onphysical media, and/or distributing software code via networks are wellknown and will not be further discussed herein. Program code, whencreated and stored on a tangible medium (including but not limited toelectronic memory modules (RAM), flash memory, Compact Discs (CDs),DVDs, Magnetic Tape and the like is often referred to as a “computerprogram product”. The computer program product medium is typicallyreadable by a processing circuit preferably in a computer system forexecution by the processing circuit.

FIG. 14 illustrates a representative workstation or server hardwaresystem in which one or more embodiments may be practiced. The system5020 of FIG. 14 comprises a representative base computer system 5021,such as a personal computer, a workstation or a server, includingoptional peripheral devices. The base computer system 5021 includes oneor more processors 5026 and a bus employed to connect and enablecommunication between the processor(s) 5026 and the other components ofthe system 5021 in accordance with known techniques. The bus connectsthe processor 5026 to memory 5025 and long-term storage 5027 which caninclude a hard drive (including any of magnetic media, CD, DVD and FlashMemory for example) or a tape drive for example. The system 5021 mightalso include a user interface adapter, which connects the microprocessor5026 via the bus to one or more interface devices, such as a keyboard5024, a mouse 5023, a printer/scanner 5030 and/or other interfacedevices, which can be any user interface device, such as a touchsensitive screen, digitized entry pad, etc. The bus also connects adisplay device 5022, such as an LCD screen or monitor, to themicroprocessor 5026 via a display adapter.

The system 5021 may communicate with other computers or networks ofcomputers by way of a network adapter capable of communicating 5028 witha network 5029. Example network adapters are communications channels,token ring, Ethernet or modems. Alternatively, the system 5021 maycommunicate using a wireless interface, such as a CDPD (cellular digitalpacket data) card. The system 5021 may be associated with such othercomputers in a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), orthe system 5021 can be a client in a client/server arrangement withanother computer, etc. All of these configurations, as well as theappropriate communications hardware and software, are known in the art.

FIG. 15 illustrates a data processing network 5040 in which one or moreembodiments may be practiced. The data processing network 5040 mayinclude a plurality of individual networks, such as a wireless networkand a wired network, each of which may include a plurality of individualworkstations 5041, 5042, 5043, 5044. Additionally, as those skilled inthe art will appreciate, one or more LANs may be included, where a LANmay comprise a plurality of intelligent workstations coupled to a hostprocessor.

Still referring to FIG. 15, the networks may also include mainframecomputers or servers, such as a gateway computer (client server 5046) orapplication server (remote server 5048 which may access a datarepository and may also be accessed directly from a workstation 5045). Agateway computer 5046 serves as a point of entry into each individualnetwork. A gateway is needed when connecting one networking protocol toanother. The gateway 5046 may be preferably coupled to another network(the Internet 5047 for example) by means of a communications link. Thegateway 5046 may also be directly coupled to one or more workstations5041, 5042, 5043, 5044 using a communications link. The gateway computermay be implemented utilizing an IBM eServer System z server availablefrom International Business Machines Corporation.

Referring concurrently to FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, software programming code5031 which may embody one or more aspects may be accessed by theprocessor 5026 of the system 5020 from long-term storage media 5027,such as a CD-ROM drive or hard drive. The software programming code maybe embodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a dataprocessing system, such as a diskette, hard drive, or CD-ROM. The codemay be distributed on such media, or may be distributed to users 5050,5051 from the memory or storage of one computer system over a network toother computer systems for use by users of such other systems.

Alternatively, the programming code may be embodied in the memory 5025,and accessed by the processor 5026 using the processor bus. Suchprogramming code includes an operating system which controls thefunction and interaction of the various computer components and one ormore application programs 5032. Program code is normally paged fromstorage media 5027 to high-speed memory 5025 where it is available forprocessing by the processor 5026. The techniques and methods forembodying software programming code in memory, on physical media, and/ordistributing software code via networks are well known and will not befurther discussed herein. Program code, when created and stored on atangible medium (including but not limited to electronic memory modules(RAM), flash memory, Compact Discs (CDs), DVDs, Magnetic Tape and thelike is often referred to as a “computer program product”. The computerprogram product medium is typically readable by a processing circuitpreferably in a computer system for execution by the processing circuit.

The cache that is most readily available to the processor (normallyfaster and smaller than other caches of the processor) is the lowest (L1or level one) cache and main store (main memory) is the highest levelcache (L3 if there are 3 levels). The lowest level cache is oftendivided into an instruction cache (I-Cache) holding machine instructionsto be executed and a data cache (D-Cache) holding data operands.

Referring to FIG. 16, an exemplary processor embodiment is depicted forprocessor 5026. Typically one or more levels of cache 5053 are employedto buffer memory blocks in order to improve processor performance. Thecache 5053 is a high speed buffer holding cache lines of memory datathat are likely to be used. Typical cache lines are 64, 128 or 256 bytesof memory data. Separate caches are often employed for cachinginstructions than for caching data. Cache coherence (synchronization ofcopies of lines in memory and the caches) is often provided by various“snoop” algorithms well known in the art. Main memory storage 5025 of aprocessor system is often referred to as a cache. In a processor systemhaving 4 levels of cache 5053, main storage 5025 is sometimes referredto as the level 5 (L5) cache since it is typically faster and only holdsa portion of the non-volatile storage (DASD, tape etc) that is availableto a computer system. Main storage 5025 “caches” pages of data paged inand out of the main storage 5025 by the operating system.

A program counter (instruction counter) 5061 keeps track of the addressof the current instruction to be executed. A program counter in az/Architecture processor is 64 bits and can be truncated to 31 or 24bits to support prior addressing limits. A program counter is typicallyembodied in a PSW (program status word) of a computer such that itpersists during context switching. Thus, a program in progress, having aprogram counter value, may be interrupted by, for example, the operatingsystem (context switch from the program environment to the operatingsystem environment). The PSW of the program maintains the programcounter value while the program is not active, and the program counter(in the PSW) of the operating system is used while the operating systemis executing. Typically, the program counter is incremented by an amountequal to the number of bytes of the current instruction. RISC (ReducedInstruction Set Computing) instructions are typically fixed length whileCISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) instructions are typicallyvariable length. Instructions of the IBM z/Architecture are CISCinstructions having a length of 2, 4 or 6 bytes. The Program counter5061 is modified by either a context switch operation or a branch takenoperation of a branch instruction for example. In a context switchoperation, the current program counter value is saved in the programstatus word along with other state information about the program beingexecuted (such as condition codes), and a new program counter value isloaded pointing to an instruction of a new program module to beexecuted. A branch taken operation is performed in order to permit theprogram to make decisions or loop within the program by loading theresult of the branch instruction into the program counter 5061.

Typically an instruction fetch unit 5055 is employed to fetchinstructions on behalf of the processor 5026. The fetch unit eitherfetches “next sequential instructions”, target instructions of branchtaken instructions, or first instructions of a program following acontext switch. Modern Instruction fetch units often employ prefetchtechniques to speculatively prefetch instructions based on thelikelihood that the prefetched instructions might be used. For example,a fetch unit may fetch 16 bytes of instruction that includes the nextsequential instruction and additional bytes of further sequentialinstructions.

The fetched instructions are then executed by the processor 5026. In anembodiment, the fetched instruction(s) are passed to a dispatch unit5056 of the fetch unit. The dispatch unit decodes the instruction(s) andforwards information about the decoded instruction(s) to appropriateunits 5057, 5058, 5060. An execution unit 5057 will typically receiveinformation about decoded arithmetic instructions from the instructionfetch unit 5055 and will perform arithmetic operations on operandsaccording to the opcode of the instruction. Operands are provided to theexecution unit 5057 preferably either from memory 5025, architectedregisters 5059 or from an immediate field of the instruction beingexecuted. Results of the execution, when stored, are stored either inmemory 5025, registers 5059 or in other machine hardware (such ascontrol registers, PSW registers and the like).

Virtual addresses are transformed into real addresses using dynamicaddress translation 5062 and, optionally, using access registertranslation 5063.

A processor 5026 typically has one or more units 5057, 5058, 5060 forexecuting the function of the instruction. Referring to FIG. 17A, anexecution unit 5057 may communicate 5071 with architected generalregisters 5059, a decode/dispatch unit 5056, a load store unit 5060, andother 5065 processor units by way of interfacing logic 5071. Anexecution unit 5057 may employ several register circuits 5067, 5068,5069 to hold information that the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) 5066 willoperate on. The ALU performs arithmetic operations such as add,subtract, multiply and divide as well as logical function such as and,or and exclusive-or (XOR), rotate and shift. Preferably the ALU supportsspecialized operations that are design dependent. Other circuits mayprovide other architected facilities 5072 including condition codes andrecovery support logic for example. Typically the result of an ALUoperation is held in an output register circuit 5070 which can forwardthe result to a variety of other processing functions. There are manyarrangements of processor units, the present description is onlyintended to provide a representative understanding of one embodiment.

An ADD instruction for example would be executed in an execution unit5057 having arithmetic and logical functionality while a floating pointinstruction for example would be executed in a floating point executionhaving specialized floating point capability. Preferably, an executionunit operates on operands identified by an instruction by performing anopcode defined function on the operands. For example, an ADD instructionmay be executed by an execution unit 5057 on operands found in tworegisters 5059 identified by register fields of the instruction.

The execution unit 5057 performs the arithmetic addition on two operandsand stores the result in a third operand where the third operand may bea third register or one of the two source registers. The execution unitpreferably utilizes an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) 5066 that is capableof performing a variety of logical functions such as Shift, Rotate, And,Or and XOR as well as a variety of algebraic functions including any ofadd, subtract, multiply, divide. Some ALUs 5066 are designed for scalaroperations and some for floating point. Data may be Big Endian (wherethe least significant byte is at the highest byte address) or LittleEndian (where the least significant byte is at the lowest byte address)depending on architecture. The IBM z/Architecture is Big Endian. Signedfields may be sign and magnitude, 1's complement or 2's complementdepending on architecture. A 2's complement number is advantageous inthat the ALU does not need to design a subtract capability since eithera negative value or a positive value in 2's complement requires only anaddition within the ALU. Numbers are commonly described in shorthand,where a 12 bit field defines an address of a 4,096 byte block and iscommonly described as a 4 Kbyte (Kilo-byte) block, for example.

Referring to FIG. 17B, branch instruction information for executing abranch instruction is typically sent to a branch unit 5058 which oftenemploys a branch prediction algorithm such as a branch history table5082 to predict the outcome of the branch before other conditionaloperations are complete. The target of the current branch instructionwill be fetched and speculatively executed before the conditionaloperations are complete. When the conditional operations are completedthe speculatively executed branch instructions are either completed ordiscarded based on the conditions of the conditional operation and thespeculated outcome. A typical branch instruction may test conditioncodes and branch to a target address if the condition codes meet thebranch requirement of the branch instruction, a target address may becalculated based on several numbers including ones found in registerfields or an immediate field of the instruction for example. The branchunit 5058 may employ an ALU 5074 having a plurality of input registercircuits 5075, 5076, 5077 and an output register circuit 5080. Thebranch unit 5058 may communicate 5081 with general registers 5059,decode dispatch unit 5056 or other circuits 5073, for example.

The execution of a group of instructions can be interrupted for avariety of reasons including a context switch initiated by an operatingsystem, a program exception or error causing a context switch, an I/Ointerruption signal causing a context switch or multi-threading activityof a plurality of programs (in a multi-threaded environment), forexample. Preferably a context switch action saves state informationabout a currently executing program and then loads state informationabout another program being invoked. State information may be saved inhardware registers or in memory for example. State informationpreferably comprises a program counter value pointing to a nextinstruction to be executed, condition codes, memory translationinformation and architected register content. A context switch activitycan be exercised by hardware circuits, application programs, operatingsystem programs or firmware code (microcode, pico-code or licensedinternal code (LIC)) alone or in combination.

A processor accesses operands according to instruction defined methods.The instruction may provide an immediate operand using the value of aportion of the instruction, may provide one or more register fieldsexplicitly pointing to either general purpose registers or specialpurpose registers (floating point registers for example). Theinstruction may utilize implied registers identified by an opcode fieldas operands. The instruction may utilize memory locations for operands.A memory location of an operand may be provided by a register, animmediate field, or a combination of registers and immediate field asexemplified by the z/Architecture long displacement facility wherein theinstruction defines a base register, an index register and an immediatefield (displacement field) that are added together to provide theaddress of the operand in memory for example. Location herein typicallyimplies a location in main memory (main storage) unless otherwiseindicated.

Referring to FIG. 17C, a processor accesses storage using a load/storeunit 5060. The load/store unit 5060 may perform a load operation byobtaining the address of the target operand in memory 5053 and loadingthe operand in a register 5059 or another memory 5053 location, or mayperform a store operation by obtaining the address of the target operandin memory 5053 and storing data obtained from a register 5059 or anothermemory 5053 location in the target operand location in memory 5053. Theload/store unit 5060 may be speculative and may access memory in asequence that is out-of-order relative to instruction sequence, howeverthe load/store unit 5060 is to maintain the appearance to programs thatinstructions were executed in order. A load/store unit 5060 maycommunicate 5084 with general registers 5059, decode/dispatch unit 5056,cache/memory interface 5053 or other elements 5083 and comprises variousregister circuits 5086, 5087, 5088 and 5089, ALUs 5085 and control logic5090 to calculate storage addresses and to provide pipeline sequencingto keep operations in-order. Some operations may be out of order but theload/store unit provides functionality to make the out of orderoperations to appear to the program as having been performed in order,as is well known in the art.

Preferably addresses that an application program “sees” are oftenreferred to as virtual addresses. Virtual addresses are sometimesreferred to as “logical addresses” and “effective addresses”. Thesevirtual addresses are virtual in that they are redirected to physicalmemory location by one of a variety of dynamic address translation (DAT)technologies including, but not limited to, simply prefixing a virtualaddress with an offset value, translating the virtual address via one ormore translation tables, the translation tables preferably comprising atleast a segment table and a page table alone or in combination,preferably, the segment table having an entry pointing to the pagetable. In the z/Architecture, a hierarchy of translation is providedincluding a region first table, a region second table, a region thirdtable, a segment table and an optional page table. The performance ofthe address translation is often improved by utilizing a translationlookaside buffer (TLB) which comprises entries mapping a virtual addressto an associated physical memory location. The entries are created whenthe DAT translates a virtual address using the translation tables.Subsequent use of the virtual address can then utilize the entry of thefast TLB rather than the slow sequential translation table accesses. TLBcontent may be managed by a variety of replacement algorithms includingLRU (Least Recently used).

In the case where the processor is a processor of a multi-processorsystem, each processor has responsibility to keep shared resources, suchas I/O, caches, TLBs and memory, interlocked for coherency. Typically,“snoop” technologies will be utilized in maintaining cache coherency. Ina snoop environment, each cache line may be marked as being in any oneof a shared state, an exclusive state, a changed state, an invalid stateand the like in order to facilitate sharing.

I/O units 5054 (FIG. 16) provide the processor with means for attachingto peripheral devices including tape, disc, printers, displays, andnetworks for example. I/O units are often presented to the computerprogram by software drivers. In mainframes, such as the System z fromIBM®, channel adapters and open system adapters are I/O units of themainframe that provide the communications between the operating systemand peripheral devices.

Further, other types of computing environments can benefit from one ormore aspects. As an example, an environment may include an emulator(e.g., software or other emulation mechanisms), in which a particulararchitecture (including, for instance, instruction execution,architected functions, such as address translation, and architectedregisters) or a subset thereof is emulated (e.g., on a native computersystem having a processor and memory). In such an environment, one ormore emulation functions of the emulator can implement one or moreembodiments, even though a computer executing the emulator may have adifferent architecture than the capabilities being emulated. As oneexample, in emulation mode, the specific instruction or operation beingemulated is decoded, and an appropriate emulation function is built toimplement the individual instruction or operation.

In an emulation environment, a host computer includes, for instance, amemory to store instructions and data; an instruction fetch unit tofetch instructions from memory and to optionally, provide localbuffering for the fetched instruction; an instruction decode unit toreceive the fetched instructions and to determine the type ofinstructions that have been fetched; and an instruction execution unitto execute the instructions. Execution may include loading data into aregister from memory; storing data back to memory from a register; orperforming some type of arithmetic or logical operation, as determinedby the decode unit. In one example, each unit is implemented insoftware. For instance, the operations being performed by the units areimplemented as one or more subroutines within emulator software.

More particularly, in a mainframe, architected machine instructions areused by programmers, usually today “C” programmers, often by way of acompiler application. These instructions stored in the storage mediummay be executed natively in a z/Architecture IBM® Server, oralternatively in machines executing other architectures. They can beemulated in the existing and in future IBM® mainframe servers and onother machines of IBM® (e.g., Power Systems servers and System xServers). They can be executed in machines running Linux on a widevariety of machines using hardware manufactured by IBM®, AMD, andothers. Besides execution on that hardware under a z/Architecture, Linuxcan be used as well as machines which use emulation by Hercules, UMX, orFSI (Fundamental Software, Inc), where generally execution is in anemulation mode. In emulation mode, emulation software is executed by anative processor to emulate the architecture of an emulated processor.

The native processor typically executes emulation software comprisingeither firmware or a native operating system to perform emulation of theemulated processor. The emulation software is responsible for fetchingand executing instructions of the emulated processor architecture. Theemulation software maintains an emulated program counter to keep trackof instruction boundaries. The emulation software may fetch one or moreemulated machine instructions at a time and convert the one or moreemulated machine instructions to a corresponding group of native machineinstructions for execution by the native processor. These convertedinstructions may be cached such that a faster conversion can beaccomplished. Notwithstanding, the emulation software is to maintain thearchitecture rules of the emulated processor architecture so as toassure operating systems and applications written for the emulatedprocessor operate correctly. Furthermore, the emulation software is toprovide resources identified by the emulated processor architectureincluding, but not limited to, control registers, general purposeregisters, floating point registers, dynamic address translationfunction including segment tables and page tables for example, interruptmechanisms, context switch mechanisms, Time of Day (TOD) clocks andarchitected interfaces to I/O subsystems such that an operating systemor an application program designed to run on the emulated processor, canbe run on the native processor having the emulation software.

A specific instruction being emulated is decoded, and a subroutine iscalled to perform the function of the individual instruction. Anemulation software function emulating a function of an emulatedprocessor is implemented, for example, in a “C” subroutine or driver, orsome other method of providing a driver for the specific hardware aswill be within the skill of those in the art after understanding thedescription of the preferred embodiment. Various software and hardwareemulation patents including, but not limited to U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,013,entitled “Multiprocessor for Hardware Emulation”, by Beausoleil et al.;and U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,261, entitled “Preprocessing of Stored TargetRoutines for Emulating Incompatible Instructions on a Target Processor”,by Scalzi et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,873, entitled “Decoding GuestInstruction to Directly Access Emulation Routines that Emulate the GuestInstructions”, by Davidian et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,255, entitled“Symmetrical Multiprocessing Bus and Chipset Used for CoprocessorSupport Allowing Non-Native Code to Run in a System”, by Gorishek et al;and U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,582, entitled “Dynamic Optimizing Object CodeTranslator for Architecture Emulation and Dynamic Optimizing Object CodeTranslation Method”, by Lethin et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,825,entitled “Method for Emulating Guest Instructions on a Host ComputerThrough Dynamic Recompilation of Host Instructions”, by Eric Traut, eachof which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety; andmany others, illustrate a variety of known ways to achieve emulation ofan instruction format architected for a different machine for a targetmachine available to those skilled in the art.

In FIG. 18, an example of an emulated host computer system 5092 isprovided that emulates a host computer system 5000′ of a hostarchitecture. In the emulated host computer system 5092, the hostprocessor (CPU) 5091 is an emulated host processor (or virtual hostprocessor) and comprises an emulation processor 5093 having a differentnative instruction set architecture than that of the processor 5091 ofthe host computer 5000′. The emulated host computer system 5092 hasmemory 5094 accessible to the emulation processor 5093. In the exampleembodiment, the memory 5094 is partitioned into a host computer memory5096 portion and an emulation routines 5097 portion. The host computermemory 5096 is available to programs of the emulated host computer 5092according to host computer architecture. The emulation processor 5093executes native instructions of an architected instruction set of anarchitecture other than that of the emulated processor 5091, the nativeinstructions obtained from emulation routines memory 5097, and mayaccess a host instruction for execution from a program in host computermemory 5096 by employing one or more instruction(s) obtained in asequence & access/decode routine which may decode the hostinstruction(s) accessed to determine a native instruction executionroutine for emulating the function of the host instruction accessed.Other facilities that are defined for the host computer system 5000′architecture may be emulated by architected facilities routines,including such facilities as general purpose registers, controlregisters, dynamic address translation and I/O subsystem support andprocessor cache, for example. The emulation routines may also takeadvantage of functions available in the emulation processor 5093 (suchas general registers and dynamic translation of virtual addresses) toimprove performance of the emulation routines. Special hardware andoff-load engines may also be provided to assist the processor 5093 inemulating the function of the host computer 5000′.

In a further embodiment, one or more aspects relate to cloud computing.It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). Theconsumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding network, servers, operating systems, storage, or evenindividual application capabilities, with the possible exception oflimited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forloadbalancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 6010 is only one example of asuitable cloud computing node and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of theinvention described herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 6010 iscapable of being implemented and/or performing any of the functionalityset forth hereinabove.

In cloud computing node 6010 there is a computer system/server 6012,which is operational with numerous other general purpose or specialpurpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples ofwell-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations thatmay be suitable for use with computer system/server 6012 include, butare not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems,thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 6012 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 6012 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 19, computer system/server 6012 in cloud computing node6010 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 6012 may include, but are notlimited to, one or more processors or processing units 6016, a systemmemory 6028, and a bus 6018 that couples various system componentsincluding system memory 6028 to processor 6016.

Bus 6018 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 6012 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 6012, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 6028 can include computer system readable media in theform of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 6030 and/orcache memory 6032. Computer system/server 6012 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 6034 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 6018 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 6028 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 6040, having a set (at least one) of program modules6042, may be stored in memory 6028 by way of example, and notlimitation, as well as an operating system, one or more applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data. Each of the operatingsystem, one or more application programs, other program modules, andprogram data or some combination thereof, may include an implementationof a networking environment. Program modules 6042 generally carry outthe functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention asdescribed herein.

Computer system/server 6012 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 6014 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display6024, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact withcomputer system/server 6012; and/or any devices (e.g., network card,modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 6012 to communicate withone or more other computing devices. Such communication can occur viaInput/Output (I/O) interfaces 6022. Still yet, computer system/server6012 can communicate with one or more networks such as a local areanetwork (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a publicnetwork (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 6020. As depicted,network adapter 6020 communicates with the other components of computersystem/server 6012 via bus 6018. It should be understood that althoughnot shown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with computer system/server 6012. Examples, include, but arenot limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units,external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archivalstorage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 20, illustrative cloud computing environment 6050is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 6050 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 6010 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 6054A, desktop computer 6054B, laptopcomputer 6054C, and/or automobile computer system 6054N may communicate.Nodes 6010 may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (notshown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such asPrivate, Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove,or a combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 6050to offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for whicha cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a localcomputing device. It is understood that the types of computing devices6054A-N shown in FIG. 20 are intended to be illustrative only and thatcomputing nodes 6010 and cloud computing environment 6050 cancommunicate with any type of computerized device over any type ofnetwork and/or network addressable connection (e.g., using a webbrowser).

Referring now to FIG. 21, a set of functional abstraction layersprovided by cloud computing environment 6050 (FIG. 20) is shown. Itshould be understood in advance that the components, layers, andfunctions shown in FIG. 21 are intended to be illustrative only andembodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. As depicted, thefollowing layers and corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 6060 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in oneexample IBM® zSeries® systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers, in one example IBM pSeries® systems; IBMxSeries® systems; IBM BladeCenter® systems; storage devices; networksand networking components. Examples of software components includenetwork application server software, in one example IBM Web Sphere®application server software; and database software, in one example IBMDB2® database software. (IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter,Web Sphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International Business MachinesCorporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide).

Virtualization layer 6062 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 6064 may provide the functionsdescribed below. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricingprovide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 6066 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; and transactionprocessing.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, thesingular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It willbe further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”,when used in this specification, specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below, if any, areintended to include any structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of one or more embodiments has been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain variousaspects and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinaryskill in the art to understand various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product for executing aninstruction in a computing environment, said computer program productcomprising: at least one computer readable storage medium readable by atleast one processing circuit and storing instructions for performing amethod comprising: obtaining the instruction for execution, theinstruction having associated therewith an operation code to specify aconditional transaction end operation; and executing, by a processor,the instruction, the executing comprising: fetching an operand from alocation specified by the instruction; based on the operand comprisingone value, ending a transaction associated with the instruction; basedon the operand comprising another value, delaying completion of theinstruction until a predefined action occurs; and based on the operandcomprising a further value, aborting transactional execution of thetransaction.
 2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein theoperand is stored by an input/output subsystem coupled to the processor.3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the further valuecomprises a negative value, the one value comprises zero, and the othervalue comprises a positive value.
 4. The computer program product ofclaim 1, wherein based on aborting transactional execution, a conditioncode in a transaction abort program status word is set to a definedvalue.
 5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein theinstruction includes one or more fields to provide the location fromwhich the operand is fetched.
 6. The computer program product of claim5, wherein the one or more fields comprise an index field, a base field,a first displacement field and a second displacement field, whereincontents of registers designated by one or more of the index field andthe base field are added to a concatenation of the second displacementfield and the first displacement field to provide the location.
 7. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, wherein the operand is stored byanother processor.
 8. The computer program product of claim 1, whereinthe predefined action comprises exceeding an interval of time, andwherein the executing further comprises: aborting transactionalexecution of the transaction; and setting a condition code in atransaction abort program status word to a defined value.
 9. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, wherein based on ending thetransaction, store accesses made by the transaction are committed, atransaction nesting depth is set to zero, the processor exitstransactional execution mode, and a condition code is set to a definedvalue.
 10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the fetchingis performed based on the processor being in a nonconstrainedtransactional execution mode and a transaction nesting depth being of aselected value.
 11. A computer system for executing an instruction in acomputing environment, said computer system comprising: a memory; and aprocessor in communication with the memory, wherein the computer systemis configured to perform a method, said method comprising: obtaining theinstruction for execution, the instruction having associated therewithan operation code to specify a conditional transaction end operation;and executing, by the processor, the instruction, the executingcomprising: fetching an operand from a location specified by theinstruction; based on the operand comprising one value, ending atransaction associated with the instruction; based on the operandcomprising another value, delaying completion of the instruction until apredefined action occurs; and based on the operand comprising a furthervalue, aborting transactional execution of the transaction.
 12. Thecomputer system of claim 11, wherein the further value comprises anegative value, the one value comprises zero, and the other valuecomprises a positive value.
 13. The computer system of claim 11, whereinthe predefined action comprises exceeding an interval of time, andwherein the executing further comprises: aborting transactionalexecution of the transaction; and setting a condition code in atransaction abort program status word to a defined value.
 14. Thecomputer system of claim 11, wherein based on ending the transaction,store accesses made by the transaction are committed, a transactionnesting depth is set to zero, the processor exits transactionalexecution mode, and a condition code is set to a defined value.
 15. Thecomputer system of claim 11, wherein the fetching is performed based onthe processor being in a nonconstrained transactional execution mode anda transaction nesting depth being of a selected value.
 16. Acomputer-implemented method of executing an instruction in a computingenvironment, said computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining theinstruction for execution, the instruction having associated therewithan operation code to specify a conditional transaction end operation;and executing, by a processor, the instruction, the executingcomprising: fetching an operand from a location specified by theinstruction; based on the operand comprising one value, ending atransaction associated with the instruction; based on the operandcomprising another value, delaying completion of the instruction until apredefined action occurs; and based on the operand comprising a furthervalue, aborting transactional execution of the transaction.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the further valuecomprises a negative value, the one value comprises zero, and the othervalue comprises a positive value.
 18. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 16, wherein the predefined action comprises exceeding an intervalof time, and wherein the executing further comprises: abortingtransactional execution of the transaction; and setting a condition codein a transaction abort program status word to a defined value.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein based on ending thetransaction, store accesses made by the transaction are committed, atransaction nesting depth is set to zero, the processor exitstransactional execution mode, and a condition code is set to a definedvalue.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein thefetching is performed based on the processor being in a nonconstrainedtransactional execution mode and a transaction nesting depth being of aselected value.